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The match will be played at 5pm London time in Court Seven.
Ranked 88, the right handed Zimbabwe wheelchair tennis pioneer will look forward to outdo his opponent ranked 85 having slid two places down the ladder.
This will be the seventh match in a knockout first round of 64 with winners of the semi-finals in each event going out head to head for the gold medals.
The French speaking Avanthey who is also right handed had his personal best ranking of 56 in 2009 and this year he has won 18 times losing 12.
For Mharakurwa, he has won four, losing three on the ITF recognised Tournaments and is ready to write his own personal piece of history for Zimbabwe.
Responding to the challenge before him Mharakurwa, as usual, was confident that he will down the Swiss despite the experience that Avanthey has.
“I am looking forward to this match as I have been preparing to the best of my ability. I believe that this will be the beginning of another historic piece for Zimbabwe in wheelchair tennis,” said Mharakurwa.
The classification rules for the ITF for the wheelchair tennis athletes state that athletes with a physical impairment that affects their ability to move around the court and prohibits them to compete equally with the able-bodied tennis players are eligible to compete as paralympians.
As such the Open category which Mharakurwa has been placed is for athletes with an impairment of one or both legs that however does not affect the functioning of the arms and hands.
Meanwhile, Elliot Mujaji is up for a tough assignment on 6 September as he faces fellow medal holders.
Though the road to snatching a gold medal is possible, he has to contend with the likes of Nigerian Johnwill Frank, holder of a silver medal from last year’s All-Africa Games. The 25-year-old West African has a qualifying and personal best time of 11.03 in this category. Going at the same speed is Cuba’s Gonzalez Isidoria Raciel who at 21 has his record best time of 11.03 seconds.
From China is 27-year-old Zhao Xu who has a personal best and a qualifying time of 11.04 seconds.
Australia’s Patmore Simon is also a threat having competed at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and earned a gold medal. Aged 25, he competed at the 2012 Brisbane Track Classic where he set a Paralympics time in the 100m event.
Ranked third in the world he also won the men’s 400m event in 51.05 seconds while his personal and qualifying best is11.05 seconds in the 100m.
Another challenge will no doubt be Brazil’s Yohansson Nascimento who competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, where he won a silver medal in the 4x100m relay and bronze in the men’s 100m T46. He holds a personal best of 10.98seconds and qualified to these games with a time of 11.01 seconds .
Responding to the challenge before Mujaji, coach Ammon Nyaundi said his athlete was working very hard with hopes that the history of Athens and Sydney might repeat itself.
“Mujaji is determined and is confident that history might repeat itself. However we must also consider at this stage the challenge he has with his opponents as most of them are young and breaking into their peak.
“For him he has won this gold medal twice which is no mean feat and having decided to hang his boots after this game shows he is also slowing down,” he said.
Nyaundi said Mujaji needed all the support that the nation can give him and leave room for less pressure.
“There should be less pressure on Mujaji now considering he had not been having many competitions and that he qualifed through a wild card. It’s the challenge that most athletes face as they cannot access competitions that enable them to qualify on the grand stage,” Nyaundi said of the 41-year-old Mujaji.
Online Reporter