Online Reporter
Ray Bande in Mutare
TENNIS Zimbabwe life president and Mantas Tennis Academy co-founder Anne Martin has died.
She was 85.
Martins breathed her last at Frail Care Old People’s Home here in Mutare.
Mantas Tennis Academy head coach Vincent Nyatoti confirmed her death.
“it is with deep sadness that I Inform you on the passing of our dear Mbuya Anne Martin. She passed away at 14.09 pm this afternoon (Thursday) to be with her beloved Tom (her late husband).”
A recipient of an award from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for developing tennis in underprivileged areas, Martin, together with her late husband, started helping kids from high density areas of Dangamvura and Sakubva in Mutare way back in 1986 to get an opportunity to play tennis.
She spearheaded a talent development programme when she was the vice president of Tennis Zimbabwe and the goal was for every province to have an academy of which only the Manicaland Tennis Programme, which she led, achieved the goal through the formulation of Mantas Tennis academy in 2002.
Mantas Tennis Academy – a tennis talent nursery of repute that not only churned numerous stars of the game but also changed many lives through sports based academic scholarships – was her passion.
At national scale, she will be long remembered for serving the game of tennis with a passion where she was life president after serving as the association’s president, at one time national development officer as well as its vice president.
