Zimbabwe’s three-member junior tennis team of Tadiwa Chinamo, Julius Mutetwa and Keith Wakatama finished fourth at the African Junior Team Championships which ended in Algiers, Algeria on Sunday.
The trio was representing the country in the boys’ Under-14 category where they were gunning for the only available slot to represent the country in the World Junior Tennis Finals which will be held later this year in Prostejov, Czech Republic.
A total of six countries were represented at the qualifiers which were won by South Africa after winning all five of their round robin matches to finish on five points.
Egypt, who lost only to South Africa were in second place on four points while Ghana pipped Zimbabwe into third place after winning the crucial doubles matches on Thursday 2-1.
Hosts Algeria struggled on their home courts, managing just one win in five attempts to finish in fifth position while Gabon anchored the standings after failing to register a win from five matches.
Tennis Zimbabwe administrator Cliff Nhokwara told NewsDay Sport that the youngsters could have done much better had they had more time to prepare on clay courts.
“They did very well and could have finished in third place if we had not lost the decisive doubles match to Ghana. Our young players always struggle when they make the transition from hard to clay surfaces and could have done much better if they had had enough time practising on clay surface,” said Nhokwara.
Meanwhile, local young players will converge at Harare Sports Club for the CEE CEES Mid-Term Junior which gets underway from Friday to Sunday. The tournament is expected to attract young players from all provinces.
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Participants will take part in four age groups — Under-12, Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 in both the boys and girls categories and Nhokwara said registration was already underway.
