A NAMIBIAN junior tennis team produced some great performances at two recent tournaments in Botswana and Mozambique that formed part of the ITF/Cat Junior Tennis Circuit.
The circuit started with a training camp which was conducted by the Southern African ITF tennis co-ordinator Riaan Kruger.
The whole purpose of the camp prior to the tournament was to assess and determine the level of players and their fitness levels.
The countries that participated in the camp and subsequent tournament were Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Botswana as the hosts. Namibia was represented by 10 players in the U12 and U14 category.
In the boys U12 section Namibia’s Codie van Schalkwyk put up a great performance going all the way to the semifinals where he eventually lost to the tournament winner Thato Holmes of Botswana.
Another Namibian U12, Bernard Barnard made it to the the quarterfinals where he succumbed to the aggressive Tsepo Mosarwa of Botswana, who was the losing finalist.
In the U12 girls category, Namibia was represented by Yone Minders and Stefanie Schulz, who competed in the elite category for the first time and gave a good account of themselves.
In the strongly contested U14 boys category, which had the largest number of 32 contestants, Namibia’s Paul Schwieger and Dantago Gawanab went down fighting in the quarterfinals against the Angolan compatriots Morais Eduardo and Fernando Andre who were the eventual winner and runner up.
In the girls U14 section Namibia was represented by Sylvia Schulz, Emma Sebastian and Cari Spangenberg.
Exhibiting some excellent tennis, Sylvia Schulz went on a great run as she reached the final before losing to the highly experienced Zimbabwean and tournament favourite Karen Machisa.
In the second tournament in Mozambique, the Namibian team went up a gear and put in dominating performances in all of the categories.
Codie van Schalkwyk extracted revenge by beating Botswana’s Thato Holmes, and then teamed up with Bernard Barnard to win the boys doubles section.
The girls section final was an all Namibian affair between Sylvia Schulz and Emma Sebastian with Schulz finally emerging as the winner, while the two then teamed up to win the U14 girls doubles title.
In the girls U12 doubles category Stefanie Schulz and Yone Minders won the silver medals after reaching the final where they lost in the longest match of the tournament.
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