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Ellina Mhlanga, Harare Bureau
TENNIS Zimbabwe are likely to know by the end of this week the venue for their 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs tie against Syria.
In a draw held in October, Zimbabwe will be away to Syria during the first week of March next year.
But Zimbabwe have offered to host it due to instability in Syria, who are the home team for this tie.
TZ manager, Cliff Nhokwara, said they have written to Syria and the International Tennis Federation offering to host the tie and they were now waiting for a response on the way forward.
“I think we will get the result by the end of this week. There is a slight possibility that we cannot go to Syria because of the turmoil there.
“Usually they (Syria) are hosted in Dubai but we have offered, if there are any issues there, to host them here in Harare.
”We are expecting some feedback this week. We have communicated with both Syria and ITF.
“So it’s a process, it will go through adjudication and there are security issues and the like.
“Ideally, they should give us time to prepare, the tie is on the first week of March,” said Nhokwara.
Zimbabwe’s last Davis Cup encounter was in April when they took on Romania in the Europe/Africa Group II away from home and they lost 1-4.
They will be hoping for a positive result when they face Syria next year and playing at home will also give them a slight advantage with their fans rallying behind them.
Meanwhile, the ITF Level Three coaching course got underway yesterday at Harare Sports Club with 14 coaches – seven foreign and an equal number of locals – taking part.
“There are 14 coaches. Only one from Botswana did not show up, we don’t know if he is going to come.
”Zimbabwe have seven coaches, instead of six, and seven are foreign. Three are from South Africa while Mozambique, Mauritius, Kenya and Ghana have one each,” said Nhokwara.
The seven local coaches attending are Martin Dzuwa, Miracle Matanga, Petros Sibanda, Vincent Nyatoti, George Sibanda, Alison Fryer and Thesley Mufunda.
The course is running until December 8.
Online Reporter