adminSisa Sihwa, Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Table Tennis Union (ZTTU) national technical director Noah Ferenando says he has engaged sponsors in preparation for this year’s edition of the Zimbabwe Open Table Tennis Tournament to be held in Norton.
The annual event allows local participants to rise in the national rankings, while testing their capabilities against international opponents.
Botswana, Malawi and Zambia have also been invited to participate at the event that will run from 25 to 26 November.
“I have been engaging with various sponsors to source funding for this year’s competitions to ensure that this edition has not only medals but prize money for the winners,” Ferenando said.
Ferenando revealed that this year the tournament was moved to Mashonaland West after failing to secure a venue for an event in Bulawayo which has enough tables to accommodate the participants.
“We failed to secure a place in Bulawayo that has the required six tables needed to cater for all the countries that would be playing at the tournament and we decided to relocate the tourney to Mashonaland West,” he said.
According to Ferenando, this is the first time that the junior and senior categories have been separated from the same event.
The reason for the separation is that the tournament has been changed to a senior national ranking from a junior national ranking one which is in line with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) standards.
The tournament will also be used for national team selection that will be participating in the Region 5 competitions next year in Botswana.
“The Zim Open tournament will serve as an opportunity to identify and select national team players to represent the country at the regional event to be held in January next year,” Ferenando said.
He added that at this year’s event all matches will be handled by ZTTU national umpires and all ITFF rules and regulations will apply.
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