Malawi boys and girls under-12 national tennis teams have failed to qualify for African Junior Teams’ finals.
A six-member squad comprising three boys and girls finished sixth in their respective categories during the ITF/CAT Southern African Junior Teams’ qualifiers in Maputo, Mozambique.
Malawi reportedly missed the opening games after arriving too late for the competition that started on Tuesday and ended on Sunday.
In both boys’ and girls’ sections, South Africa emerged champions Zimbabwe finished as runners-up in boys’ category followed by eSwatini on third while Namibia came second in girls’ category with Botswana finishing third.
The competition drew nine teams from Southern Africa.
Malawi Tennis Association Head of Technical Owen Mfune said they secured support from Kamuzu University of Health Sciences Sports Complex for the team to travel to Maputo.
“Normally, Confederation of African Tennis subsidises transport costs but the money was not enough for the team to travel to Mozambique. Our efforts to source funds from other stakeholders proved futile. We then engaged Kuhes Sports Complex, who supported us,” Mfune said.
Kuhes Sports Complex Administrator Geoffrey Biya said they supported the team with an undisclosed amount to give youngsters international exposure.
“Development competitions are helpful because that is where kids build interest and master the basics of the game. We are glad that we supported the kids and we are part of their development,” Biya said.
Malawi under-12 boys’ team comprised Bulo Mwase, Austin Dzinkambani (both Mzuzu) and Mike Makwera (Blantyre) whereas the girls’ side consisted of Faith Nkholomba, Promise Meya (both Lilongwe) and Anna Malinga (Blantyre).
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