The South African Sports Confederation & Olympic Committee (SASCOC) have named juniors, Siphos Montsi and Minette Van Vreden as part of the team to compete at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in Nassau, Bahamas from 19-23 July.
Tennis will be one of six sporting codes that South Africa will have representation in, at the games. There are nine sporting codes being showcased on the Caribbean island. The six codes South Africa are represented in are: Athletics, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Judo, Swimming and Tennis, with the biggest codes in terms of numbers being Athletics and Swimming both with a squad of 8 representatives each.
17-year-old Montsi was recently named part of the South African Davis Cup squad that beat Slovenia to give South Africa a chance of promotion to Euro/Africa Group 1 against Denmark in September. Van Vreden, aged 18 is the reigning South African Junior Champion
The Commonwealth Youth Games are held every four years and Team SA placed second on the medal table in the previous games in Apia, Samoa in 2015 with a total of 35 medals. Ms Patience Shikwambana will lead the team as Chef de Mission. “It’s a great honour to lead South Africa’s youth to the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in Bahamas. ‘The delegation leaves the shores of South Africa during a month where all South Africans and the world celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy. Mandela Day asks us all to ‘Take Action, Inspire Change and make every Day a Mandela Day’, so to Team South Africa, go and have fun, play fair and inspire more youth to take action and get involved in sport to change their lives and become better persons in future through sport.”
SASCOC CEO, Mr Tubby Reddy added: “Though we are sending a lean team we believe it is a strong team who have all met the competitive selection criteria and will do the nation proud. Previously Team SA has performed exceptionally at these games and we therefore hope that the same or even better results will be achieved.“
“The Commonwealth Youth Games, remain an integral event for us as future stars and Olympians rise from events of such a nature,” added Mr Reddy.
The holding camp for Team SA will take place in Johannesburg on 15 July, with the team departing for the games the next day to compete against the other Commonwealth countries.
The tennis team is:
Boys: Siphos Montsi Girls: Minette Van Vreden
Manager / Coach: Charles Mehlape
Source: SASCOC