Tennis Zimbabwe president Anne Martin has urged the corporate world to come to the rescue of junior tennis in the country with sponsorship packages.
Martin spoke to NewsDay Sport after the end of the three -day Zimbabwe Closed Junior Tennis Tournament on Wednesday in Mutare.
The veteran administrator, who boasts of over 30 years experience in developing talent from grassroots level in the country, said she was aware that some companies were still struggling financially, but believes they could still assist.
“The issue of sponsorship is still our major problem.lt is affecting the development of the game in a different way, but we are still appealing to the corporate world to come and assist us with sponsorship. I know some companies are still struggling to make ends meet, but they can always assist us with little things, this can always make a difference,” she said.
“Some parents are using their own funds to sponsor their children in various tournaments. For some of the parents who do not have money it will be really difficult to realise the full potential of their kids, this should be not the case anyway,’’ she added.
The major highlight of the tournament was in the Under-16 boys category, when top seed Ngoni Makwambwa was beaten by Ngoni Chiwewete 0-6 6-1 6-0 in the finals and Latiffah Yassini beat Zahra Finnigan in the U-16 girls’ finals.
Michaela Baker outpaced Chloe O’Connor by points in the round robin.
