Wheelchair tennis player lined up for France tour

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) invited the 16-year-old King George Memorial player after seeing him play at last year’s World Team Championships in South Africa.
Banda has already started his training sessions under the guidance of one of Zimbabwe’s finest wheelchair tennis coaches Petros Ndlovu.
“I am happy that Shepard will towards the end of the month travel to France to compete in an invitational tournament. As a coach it feels great to produce players who get recognition from the ITF.
“Shepard has been training hard and I believe the sky is the limit for him as long as he continues with his hard work,” he said.
Ndlovu is credited for developing and training Zimbabwe’s number one ace Nyasha Mharakurwa who is at the University of Johannesburg on a wheelchair tennis scholarship.
Banda has been doing well in the domestic scene and last year won the Harare and Bulawayo Junior Open tournaments.
His coach believes he is capable of emulating Mharakurwa and even surpass Zimbabwe’s number one.
“Shepard is still young and the future looks bright for him. What he needs is to play at regional and international competitions so that he gets the necessary exposure.
“I think he has the potential to do even better than Nyasha as he is lucky to be touring Europe at such a young age,” Ndlovu said.
Banda trains at the Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) with the likes of another promising star Samson Muroyiwa.
Banda and Muroyiwa were in the team that represented Zimbabwe during last year’s World Team Championships in South Africa.