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Zimpapers Sports Hub
The Zimbabwe junior tennis team finished second behind South Africa at the just-ended ITF/CAT 16-and-Under and 14-and-Under tournament in Windhoek, Namibia.
The week-long tournament kicked off with the individual event before going into the team event that ended over the weekend.
Zimbabwe was represented in both age groups and the boys’ and girls’ teams made the finals in their respective age groups.
However, they went down to South Africa to settle for second place. The 14-and-Under boys lost 2-0 with Joel Badza losing 0-6, 0-6 to Nicholas Kruger while Divine Kaliofasi lost 2-6, 6-7 (1) to Tristan Summers.
It was the same script for the girls as Emily George suffered a 1-6, 0-6 defeat at the hands of Lily Haley.
Her teammate Rutendo Tom went down 2-6, 3-6 to Leago Dube, for Zimbabwe to go down 0-2.
In the 16-and-Under boys, Tendekai Msabaeka lost 2-6, 0-6 to Ethan Pieber and Noah Samushonga was beaten 6-1, 7-5 by Hlumani Kekana to lose the tie 0-2 to South Africa.
On the girls’ side, Zimbabwe lost 2-1 with Chanelle Zhuwakini losing 2-6, 6-7(6) to Roxy Bredenkamp while Simphiwe Malunguza had a good day on the court and beat Jenna Theron 6-4, 6-3.
However, her efforts were not good enough as Malunguza and Zhuwakini went on to lose the doubles match 4-6, 5-7 to South Africa’s pair Bredenkamp and Theron.
Other countries that took part were hosts Namibia who came third, Botswana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Lesotho, Mozambique, Angola and Eswatini.
