Namibia’s under/12 boys and girls did the nation proud over the past weekend when they finished second in the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) Southern Africa Tennis U/12 tournament held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Namibia, with Zimbabwe as overall winner, will now represent the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the African Junior Championships in Morocco early December.

The week-long tournament saw the host country, Namibia, Botswana and Malawi competing for top honours. 

Zimbabwe’s boys and girls finished ahead of Namibia, Malawi and Botswana in that order. It is the first time Namibia qualify for a major continental tournament.

In an interview yesterday, Chairperson of the Junior Tennis Committee of the Namibia Tennis Association (NTA), Santie van der Walt said they are proud of the team’s performance, and qualifying for a continental tourney makes it more exciting.

“I can you tell you there were only four teams participating in the competition, and all the teams that partook in the were equally strong. But I would like to say that we are proud of our team and the performances they put up,” she told New Era Sport.

“It is a huge milestone for us, given the fact that we are qualifying for a continental tournament for the first time. We are going to keep on working hard and putting in a lot of work. We will host a few junior tournaments before the end of the year, and I believe it will play a very vital role in our preparations,” De Walt said.

- mkambukwe@nepc.com.na