The Electric Junction sponsored Junior Tennis tournament kicks off tomorrow (Monday) in Gaborone.
The tournament, which has been sponsored to the tune of P39┬á000 by the electrical company, will see close to 80 players clash to decide the country’s best upcoming tennis stars.
Speaking in an interview, Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) Public Relations Officer, Nelson Amanze, said they expect this year’s tournament to be bigger than in the past year.
“For this year, we have added the senior category to what has so far been a junior tournament. The reason for this is that the BTA has realised that we do not have enough senior tournaments and the addition of the senior category is meant to fill that vacuum,” Amanze said.
The P39 000 sponsorship by Electric Junction marks a P15 000 increment in the sponsorship from that of the past year.
Amanze said that of the total sponsorship, only P4 000 will be channelled to the prize monies for the new senior category while the bulk of the remainder will go towards the junior category.
“P15┬á000 will go towards medals and prizes for the junior categories while the remaining amount will go towards administrative duties such as buying tournament balls, advertising and others,” Amanze added.
As to who is eligible to play in the tournament, Amanze said as this is a developmental outing, priority is given to young local players, more so as the tournament helps in deciding who the top ranked young players locally are.
Concerning the tournament’s sponsors, Electric Junction, Amanze said the company is a partner with local tennis and has been involved in other tennis related tournaments.
“They have a long term vision, as is the BTA, to see this country having better representatives at the upcoming continental and eventually international competitions. In the near future, both our targets are to see this country well represented at the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo, Brazzaville,” the BTA PRO said.
The tournament’s play structure is expected to be divided into six categories, namely: the Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Under 18 and the seniors.
The tournament will come to a close on Friday.
