12 countries set for Africa Nations Tennis Championship

Twelve countries will take part in this year’s Africa Nations Tennis Championship that gets underway on Monday at the Nairobi Club.

Kenya will be making a return to the biennial event after missing the last five editions.

Defending Champions South Africa will not take part in the 14th edition of the continental showpiece, whose entry list closed on Monday.

Among the countries that are expect include Sierra Leone, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Nigeria, Gabon, Comoros, Tunisia, Morocco, Zambia, Ethiopia alongside the hosts.

Congo Brazzaville players were due to arrive in the country on Thursday ahead of the week-long championship.

Tennis Kenya’s Projects Manager Suzanne Odhiambo told Daily Nation Sport that the rest of the nations will arrive from Friday up until Sunday.

“We were expecting 20 nations but we have more than half and that is a good turn-out. It promises to be a tightly contested competition and fans can expect to be treated to some real action,” she said.

The draws will be conducted on Sunday at 4pm with action beginning on Monday. The event, which is meant for senior players, will see countries play in individual events for both men and women and in a doubles competition.

The Kenyan team has been training at the Nairobi Club under the tutelage of head coach Rosemary Owino and assisted by Caroline Oduor, a former Kenya Open Ladies Champion and George Oyoo.

The team will be handed a boost with the arrival of top seed Ismael Changawa, who jets in on Friday. Changawa, who turns out for the Seminole State College in the US, had earlier been ruled out of the competition due to his school workload.

The Kenya Open men’s champion will link up with siblings Kevin Cheruiyot and Ibrahim Kibet who are already in camp. Other players in the men’s team include Petty Andanda, Albert Njogu and Sheil Kotecha.

US-based Maurice Wamukowa also joined the camp on Tuesday after arriving from Florida.

On the women’s side, Shufaa Changawa will lead Kenya’s title hunt alongside Faith Nyabera, Paige Mbugua and Katrina Karanja, who was called up to replace National and East African Secondary Schools champion Judith Nkatha, who is sitting her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.

Kenya will also host the African 14 and Under Tennis Masters during the same week at the Public Service Club. This is basically a junior competition which brings together the top eight boys and girls in Africa as per the Confederation of African Tennis ranking.

Ryan Randiek and Sneha Kotecha will represent the country in the boys’ and girls’ categories respectively.