The South African Under-14 Girls team will fly the African flag at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Junior Tennis Finals, to be staged at TK Prostejov in Czech Republic, from 5-10 August.
The team saw off Kenya, winning 3-0 in their final encounter at the African Junior Championships in Algeria last month to secure a spot in the prestigious junior event, after finishing in second place to claim the second automatic qualifying spot behind Egypt. The ITF World Junior Tennis Finals is the premier global event for Under-14 players.
“Representing South Africa, and Africa, at the World Junior Tennis Finals is a great opportunity. We went into the African Junior Team Championships with the goal of making it to the World Junior Tennis Finals. We knew that we will compete against the best in Africa, and we did. Going into the World Junior Finals we have the same belief. We know the competition will be tough. We are competing against the best from across the world, commented Under-14 Girls team coach, Asnath Sebati at the team send-off at Garden Court OR Tambo on Wednesday.
Sebati said the team has prepared well for the tournament, ”The girls have been preparing themselves since qualifying in Algeria at the African Junior Team Championships last month. We are fortunate to arrive in Prostejov a few days before the tournament starts to get used to the conditions and wrap up our preparations. Of course, we would love to add some silverware to our collection, but we also want to ensure that we perform well enough so that Africa can have two teams competing next year. At the end of the day we want to ensure that tennis in Africa has more and more chances for success on the world stage”.
Team:
Players -
• Kaitlyn Ramduth
• Anna Wise
• Carle Botha
Coach -
• Ngwakwana Asnath Sebati