The BTA president, Oaitse Thipe, told SportMonitor that the ITF J60 tournaments came to an end but there are still more international tournaments coming this year including the Continental Under-14 tournaments. “After hosting the Davis Cup, which required many people, we utilised a number of those people including our staff and officiating crew. We also resurfaced the courts before the Davis Cup, so we used those courts too. We are going to host more World ITF J100 later in October, and ITF/CAT Under 14 tournaments,” he said. However, Thipe said sponsorship remains a challenge. He appealed to the private sector to buy naming rights at the National Tennis Centre.
He said at the moment, the BTA has been sponsoring the tournaments they are hosting. Regarding the performance of the players, Thipe said it was good, as highlighted by Naledi Raguin and Chelsea Chakanyuka winning the doubles of the first week and reaching the finals in the second week. Chakanyuka and Raguin lost 3-6, 6-2 (10-8) to Daniel Chapman and Abigail Wheeler of South Africa. The two players advanced to the final after defeating Alicia Taylor and Gitta Victor of South Africa 3-6, 6-4. In the girls singles main draw, Chakanyuka lost her quarterfinal match 6-3, 6-3 to Alicia Taylor of South Africa.
Ntungamili Raguin reached the singles semi final and doubles while nursing an injury. “The likes of Kagello Malumo and Rethabile Moshaoa also picked up good points. In terms of the organisation, it was good as Gaone Poane was the referee, fresh from officiating the Olympics Gold Medal match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. In the boys singles, Mark Nawa lost 6-1, 6-3 to Jayden Summers of South Africa in the quarterfinal. Ntumili Raguin progressed to the semi final after defeating Aston Joshua of Great Britain 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. It was a tough doubles match for Nawa and Raguin as they went down 6-2 4-6 (10-7) to Summers and Maksim Mihic of South Africa.
