Arusha — NINE young players from Arusha, Kilimanjaro, and Dar es Salaam regions head to the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, the venue of this year’s East African Junior Tennis championship starting a shootout this weekend.
While in Burundi, the Tanzanian envoys will compete for the top honours in both individual and team’s level titles.
In the team, Arusha has contributed five players while three from Arusha Gymkhana Club. The players are; Fred Ongige, Faith Nyamakula and Hadija Said.
The other two come from the Arusha International Conference Center (AICC); Elia Balthazar and David Tarimo. All five players from Arusha will. play in the U-14 category.
From Kilimanjaro, there are three players who will play in Girls U-16 category. They are Nasha Singo and Rachel Swai from the Rafiki Foundation Club of Moshi. There is also Eunice Kimaro from UWC International School.
Dar es Salaam Gymkhana fields a single player, Happy David in the U-14 category.
The Tanzanian envoys will be led by two officials; coach Goodluck Mollel and Matron Faraja Yindi.
Organized by the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) in collaboration with International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Burundi Tennis Federation (BTF), the Championship takes place in Bujumbura from January 7th to 15th this year.
Eleven countries from the East and Central African Region are participating. They are Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Eritrea, Djibouti, Comoros, Seychelles, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the hosts Burundi.
According to the organizers, each nation is entitled to send a team of 12 players, three boys and three girls for the Under-14 and Under-16 events to be sponsored by CAT.
But for Tanzania decided to field just nine players due to financial constraints that could back the initial lineup of 15 people; 12 players and three officials.
Nicholas Leringa, the Arusha Gymkhana Club Tennis Coach said Burundi’s Championship is the qualifying stage for the forthcoming African Tennis Tournament to be held in May and June this year.