CORRECTIONAL, RECREATION IN FINALS

LOBAMBA – Recreation players are ready to defend their title. They will face Correctional in the Swaziland Building Society (SBS) Tennis Championships finals that were initially scheduled for yesterday but eventually deferred indefinitely due to poor weather.  They got a bye in the early stages of the tournament. Mhlume managed to win 3-2 against Matsapha.  Correctional, on the other hand, saw Sifuna Kudlala Club in the semi-finals to earn a decider. 

The Mhlume team fell in position three and Sifuna Kudlala came fourth. In the singles’  girls Under-14, Sakhizwe Malindzisa won by 6-2, 6-0 against Temancele Mavuso from Matsapha club and Muzi Dlamini won by 6-2 6-3 against Sizolwethu Methula. The Mhlume Tennis team, headed by coach Gabi Mkhabela, managed to win the eliminatory round and made it to position three.

represented

One of the kingdom’s key players, Vusi Tsabedze, who is also from the Mhlume Tennis Club, represented the kingdom in the Africa Championships that were held in Namibia last year and came out in second place. 
According to the prize breakdown in all categories, the champions are entitled to E1 500 plus the floating trophy and the runners-up will walk away with E2 500. The third and fourth place finishers will pocket E1 250 and E750, respectively.
Eswatini National Tennis Association President Maxwell Jele said the tournament would help in selecting a national squad that would perform in the Davis Cup in the next three to four years. He said the association’s ultimate goal was to build a strong junior’s team that would compete in the International Tennis Federation Africa Championships in Benoni, South Africa, starting on December 13 until 19.

“Our ultimate goal is to select the best players who will form the core of national team. As an association, we are humbled and honoured by the support of our sponsor who have partnered with us in tennis development in the kingdom. We wish that this relationship continues,” said Jele.

Meanwhile, Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs, Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga dubbed the tournament as one of the best in the kingdom of Eswatini and praised the increasing number of teams that compete in the annual event.
He was speaking after witnessing the Swaziland Building Society (SBS) Tennis Championships that were staged at the National Tennis Centre in Lobamba on Saturday.

improve

He said it was through the championships that coaches managed to select players to represent the kingdom in international tournaments but highlighted that the main challenge was there was a need to improve sports development through high participation. Bulunga said this could only be achieved if schools adopted physical education as a compulsory curriculum and by so doing, increase the pool of quality players.
“It is quite impressive to see the increasing number of teams competing in the SBS Tennis championships as this helps in selecting the pick team to represent the kingdom in international tournaments. Time is a huge challenge in all sports, especially development. Players do not get enough time to train and this hinders their performance in international tournaments,” said Bulunga.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: