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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
AFTER hosting two Cranrid ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors events in Bulawayo recently, Zimbabwe are looking forward to another three weeks of exciting competition in Harare in August.
The ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors tournaments have become a permanent feature on the local calendar.
The three events are scheduled for Harare Sports Club.
Although there were some disruptions in 2020 due to Covid-19 and last year the events featured mostly local players, there are high hopes for better competition this year as the situation continues to improve.
Two events are held in Bulawayo and three are staged in Harare.
Tennis Zimbabwe manager, Cliff Nhokwara, said taking into account the positive response and participation at the two events held recently in Bulawayo, they are expecting bigger and better competition in Harare.
There were more foreign players at the events compared to last year when travelling was a bit difficult due to travel restrictions that were put in place by different countries because of the pandemic.
Entries are already open for the upcoming events.
“Obviously this is a five-series event. We have two in Bulawayo and three in Harare. We successfully hosted two in Bulawayo and obviously we have three in Harare. Preparations are underway.
“In Bulawayo, we got better numbers than last year, so many foreign players and local players benefited from the events.
“We have got even better events in Harare because we have one Grade Three and two Grade Four. In Bulawayo we had Grade Five events.
“Now there is no Covid restrictions and just general travel restrictions have been eased, so it becomes easier for anyone to travel to attend the events,” said Nhokwara.
The first tournament starts on August 1 and ends on August 6. The second one runs from August 8 to 13 and the last one is pencilled in for August 15 to 20.
The events present local players with a platform to compete with some of the best juniors from different countries. It also an opportunity to earn ranking points.
“We obviously want to measure the standard of our local players against what the world is doing. It will help coaches to work on the weaknesses and improve strength of our local players, so that they can compete favourably against international players,” Nhokwara said.
Some of the best performances in the last two events came from Tadiwa Mauchi, Tanya Midzi and Takura Mhwandagara.
They are also expected to be part of the upcoming tournaments in Harare.
Nhokwara said they hope most of the players can continue with their form and go all the way to the finals.
“First week, we had Tadiwa Mauchi winning the girls doubles, then Tanya Midzi was a singles finalist and then Takura Mhwandagara won the boys doubles and Tanya got through to the semis in the other one. Those were our best performances.
“If the likes of Tanya, Tadiwa, (Sasha) Chimedza, Mhwandagara and the Sibandas continue working the way they have been doing I am sure we will have Zimbabweans through to the semis and finals,” said Nhokwara.
Chimedza won her maiden singles title on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors last year in November at Harare Sports Club.
Online Reporter