Tennis Zimbabwe is hosting the International Tennis Federation (ITF) South/Central Africa Circuit.
BY OUR STAFF
The tourney kicked off yesterday at Harare Sports Club. There were doubts about the event, as the country is set to hold harmonised elections on Wednesday.
The election fever has seen a number of sporting events being cancelled or postponed to later dates, with the latest being the BancABC Sup8r Cup semis, which were set for Barbourfields in Bulawayo this weekend, as well as the Kwekwe Sports and Cultural Festival.
BancABC Sup8r dates have not been confirmed, while the Kwekwe Sports and Cultural Festival has been moved to October.
The tennis tournament will run for the next two weeks.
Speaking to Standardsport, tournament director Cliff Nhokwara said they were more than prepared to host the event, which has attracted players from more than 20 African countries.
“Everything has been put in place for the event. The country will be having harmonised elections on Wednesday, in between the event, but we hope that this is not going to have any effects on our event. As Tennis Zimbabwe, we are ready for the visitors and from our players side, they are also ready for the challenge.”
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The event started yesterday with qualifying draws for both boys and girls, which are expected to end today.
The main draw for both categories starts tomorrow (Monday), with the entire event expected to run for the next two weeks.
“We have been honoured to host an event of such magnitude. We are expecting individual players from more than 20 different African countries to grace this tournament. As the host nation, we are expecting to field more than four players in each category. We have been monitoring the political situation in the country for some time.
As an association, we saw it prudent to have the event because we hope peace will prevail. If anything that may require us to stop the event comes up, then we will have to decide,” Nhokwara said.
