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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
THE New Winners tennis tournament is now expected to get underway this weekend in Gweru with Midlands State University and Thornhill Air Base as the match venues.
The tournament was initially scheduled to run from January 5 to 8 at Kwekwe Sports Club clay courts. However, the hosts, Midlands Province, had to defer the tournament and find an alternative venue due to the wet weather conditions, which are not ideal for clay courts.
They have since secured all-weather courts at Midlands State University and Thornhill Air Base. The event is now due to take place from January 8 to 11. Tournament director, Providence Nyoni, confirmed the new dates and venue for the tournament.
“We got MSU and Thornhill Air Base in Gweru. They are our new venues. The tournament is now running from January 8 to 11. MSU has four all-weather courts and Thornhill Air Base has three courts, so in total we have seven courts.
“Our (initial) venue is clay courts so it rained but the rains have since stopped. However, since they are clay courts, they need like a full week of sunshine to get a little bit of solidness, then we can start working on them and so on for matches to be played,” said Nyoni.
The event caters for junior players from Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and 18-and-Under. The 16s and 18s have been combined to come up with the 18-and-Under age-group because of the limited number of players in these two age groups.
Despite the hiccups, Nyoni said they have had a positive response and by Tuesday, the initial deadline for entries, they had 147 players that had registered to participate in the tournament.
Entries are now set to close tomorrow around midday and the draw will take place after, with matches scheduled to start on Saturday morning.
“The numbers are very good. We are expecting fireworks, like everybody is hungry to play . . . and parents have been very supportive. Zimbabwe is going to host some zonal tournaments so it will be good to have some warm-up matches for the players.
“We have got an overwhelming response from Bulawayo, Harare, Mutare, Masvingo and Kadoma. Those are our major stakeholders. Harare has almost half of the players, Bulawayo also has a big number, Mutare, and then Masvingo.”
They have received US$1 400 from Total Greatness International to go towards the hosting of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Tennis Zimbabwe released their 2022 calendar with some of the highlights being the Davis Cup tie against El Salvador and the International Tennis Federation Under-18 tournaments to be hosted in Bulawayo and Harare. Zimbabwe are expected to host El Salvador in the Davis Cup World Group II play-offs on March 4 and 5, in Harare. They will be out to get a win to stay in the Group.
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Peter Tanyanyiwa