50 players turn up for tennis tournament

Last week saw more than 50 junior tennis players compete in five different age groups for points in the Namibian Tennis Association (NTA) ranking.
Although some of the top players were not available due to ill health or injuries, spectators were still treated to some entertaining tennis during the finals at the Central Tennis Court.
While some competitions with fewer entrants were played out in a round robin format, in the age categories of Boys U12, U14 and U16 where there many registered players, the players competed using a knockout system.
The NTA has increased the number of junior tournaments to a total of 15 which are alternatively organized and managed by tennis schools in Windhoek, Swakopmund and Outjo. This time it was Warren Frewer of KAINOS Tennis Academy and his coaching team who organised a tournment for the more than 50 kids starting from 2:30 pm on Friday until Saturday afternoon.
“We are happy to see again so many junior players on our courts,” said Frewer. He said he was pleased with the level of progress that the young athletes were making. “Just compare their results now and a couple of months ago. There stroke skills and the tactical understanding of the game has improved tremendously. This shows what focus and good coaching can achieve in a short time,” he said
In the end, Veja Hinda won the U18 Boys competition with Andre Smit coming second while Jenna Truebenbach beat Susan Strauss to claim the U18 girls contest. Suzan Strauss and Emily Otto were victorious in the girl’s doubles final .
The U16 Boys category was decided in a grueling three setter final. Fourteen year old Dantago Gawanab, just back from an international junior tournament in Algeria, had the upper hand against Ruvan Van Staden beating him 1:6; 6:2 and 7:5.
The U14 Boys final saw Paul Swieger beating Petrus Burger 6:2; 6:1. Together with Lian Theron, Swieger also won the doubles match against Tevin Tait and Lean Minders 6:1; 6:3.
The U14 girl’s competition winner was Emma Bastiaans with Nastasha Rau coming in second place.
The Winner in the U10 Boys group was Unotjari Katunohange and Jaco Beckern was the runners-up. Eight- year old Connor van Schalkwyk defied the odds in a highly contested U12 competition beating Gerhard Barnard 6:1; 6:4 in the finals. However, Barnard and his partner Oliver Diggle were able to beat van Schalkwyk and partner Oliver Baas 6:3; 3:6 and 12:10 through a super tiebreak in an entertaining doubles match.