Maurice Kambukwe
With strict health measures and regulations in place, the Namibia Tennis Association (NTA) will today put shoulder to the wheel when they host the much-anticipated NTA Junior Tournament at four different venues in Windhoek.
Despite ongoing health threats by the Covid-19 pandemic, the NTA has put a raft of safety measures in place to keep all participants and fans safe from the virus during the two-day event, which starts today and runs until tomorrow.
Matches have been spread across various venues, with some matches taking place at the Central Tennis Courts (CTC), DTS, SKW, and Police Tennis Court in the capital.
Tennis is among the eight non-contact sport codes that were given the green light by the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) to resume training and activities but under strict safety regulations and set rules as earlier announced by the line ministry.
Among the measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus is that players will not be allowed to share equipment, towels, water bottles and refreshments. The tournament will only consist of single matches and no doubles to be allowed.
Another vital measure to be applied during the event is that players will also not be allowed to shake hands before and after the matches and hand sanitisers will be made available at all times for the consistent cleaning of hands by all. Taurus Maintenance Products Namibia donated the hand sanitisers to NTA.
Speaking to New Era Sport yesterday, NTA’s chairperson of the junior tennis committee Santie van der Walt said all players remain upbeat and ready for action.
“Everyone is ready, the players are excited about tomorrow (today) and all our best players will be on the courts. We can’t wait to get the balls rolling. We did a lot, 23 courts will be used and a total of 165 matches are expected to be played in this two days. We received 89 entries. Sanitisers are available, with masks and different balls to ensure we adhere to the set rules,” assured Van der Walt. – mkambukwe@nepc.com.na