Kenya to host prestigious ITF/CAT 14 and under Tennis Championships

Tennis Kenya has been given another opportunity to host a major junior tournament at the Nairobi Club.

The ITF/CAT under-14 Africa Junior Championships starts on Monday and will run until Saturday 1 March with the country determined to showcase their best once again.

This event comes hardly one month after the country hosted the ITF/CAT Eastern Africa Zone Championships for the under-14 and under-16 categories.

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According to Tennis Kenya Secretary General Wanjiru Karani the one-week event will bring together players from five African Zones.

In total 15 countries will send players to take part in the event including Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Madagascar, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and hosts Kenya.

“The championships promises to be an exciting showcase and a thrilling celebration of the next generation of African tennis stars. Tennis Kenya is committed to nurturing talent in Kenya and beyond,” said Karani.

She further pointed out that the event touted as the best in this age group will also double up to identifying Africa’s emerging talent.

The tournament will be preceded by various events. It started with a number of warm-up tournaments on Wednesday 19 February and will run until Saturday. The opening ceremony will be held on Monday 24 February from 8 AM.

Kenyan teams dominated at the ITF/CAT Eastern African Junior Team Championships for under-16 and under-14 categories which were held last month.

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The hosts won the under-16 categories for boys and girls as well as the girls under-14 category while finishing runners-up in the boys under-14 category.

In the boys under-16 category, Kenya finished at the top of the standings after collecting five points. The team won 14 matches and lost just once.

Burundi finished runners-up with four points while Uganda were third with three points.

A total of six countries took part in the boys category. The others were Rwanda, Tanzania and Seychelles.

In the girls under-16 category, Kenya finished on top of the group with four points and were followed by Burundi and Tanzania who collected three and two points respectively. Rwanda finished at the bottom of the group having lost all their matches.

In the girls under-14 category, Kenya beat Burundi to emerge champions while in the boys category, the hosts lost to neighbours Uganda in the final to finish runners-up.

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