POLOKWANE – The Polokwane Tennis Club, on Saturday, played host to the second one-day Provincial Wheelchair Tennis Tournament which saw 40 players from Polokwane, Venda, Botlokwa, Tzaneen, Louis Trichardt and Bochum participate, as they battled it out for top honours on the tennis court.
While the tournament got underway, beginners took part in a camp as part of their introduction to the game.
Players were given bigger, softer, colourful tennis balls to practice which would be replaced with normal balls as they advance and begin to play professionally.
Mninawa Ndaku, TSA Manager for Wheelchair Tennis, told BONUS that Limpopo has produced some of the world’s best wheelchair tennis players, including world number six and Wimbledon finalist, Kgothatso Montjane, Evans Maripa, rising quad player, Donald Ramphadi and former tennis player Sydwell Mathose, to name a few. “We definitely commend the department for their continued, generous support in investing in the future of wheelchair tennis,” Mninawa added.
Mninawa said the programme is aimed to create a tournament player pathway that motivates players in the development coaching programme. The provincial one-day tournament is a very important part of the player pathway that we are establishing for our wheelchair tennis players, currently in development clubs or special schools. We believe that creating a healthy competition for the juniors is vital and this initiative is one way for them to remain motivated and train even harder when they go back to their clubs, Mnaniwa added.
He concludes that there is also a camp running parallel with the tournament, which aims to introduce wheelchair tennis to participants who have never had the opportunity.
