Developing story: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi confirmed dead in chopper crash
Big ITF event returns to Mombasa
Gideon Maundu | NATION
Kasandra Kosub , 14, from Poland trains with his coach at the Mombasa Sports Club on February 03, 2011 ahead of the Mombasa International Under-18 junior tennis championship which starts at the same venue on Monday.
What you need to know:
- Six Poles first foreign players at venue as top seed Dawda, Changawa and Onyancha siblings lead Kenyan charge
Six players from Poland were the first foreigners to arrive in Mombasa for the Mombasa International Junior Tennis Championships that begins on Monday.
At least 80 players from all over the world will compete in the first leg of the Under-18 ITF Ranking Junior Circuit which returns to Mombasa Sports Club after seven years.
Competitors will battle for ITF ranking points at the three-leg tournament that is hosted in over 150 countries each week. The second and third legs will be at Parklands Sports Club and Nairobi Club in Nairobi.
On Thursday morning, the Polish players and their three coaches started training at MSC courts where Kenyan star Ismail Changawa was also training.
The Poles are Pascal Klos, Bartek Karzeniewski, Julian Throsienski, Maciej Kierkus, Damian Okrutny and the only lady, Kozub Kasandra.
Coach Joseph Masa Slovakia said 14-year-old Kozub is set to do well. Lucas Kolszewski, coach of Karzeniewski, Throsienski, Kierkus and Okrutny, said he was happy with the hot, humid conditions in the Coastal city.
More foreign players expected
“Although in our country the conditions are negative ten degrees Celcius, we’ve enough time to acclimatise and manage to do well in the event,” said Kolszewski.
The event’s co-ordinator, Lawrence Karanja, said more foreign players were expected to jet in from last night through Sunday.
Teams expected at the event include England, Belgium, Botswana, India, Egypt, Cyprus, Sweden, Romania, Italy and Greece. Others are the United States, Korea, Taipei, Burundi, Slovakia, France, China, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Russia and Uganda.
Kenya’s 647th-ranked Nikita Dawda heads the list and will be the top seed while 751st-ranked Michelle Onyancha will also be among the top ranked players. Shufaa Changawa, Katarina Karanja and Sonia Radia, all based in Mombasa, have been given wild cards to the main draw, as has Ibrahim Kibet in the boys’ category where Changawa and Derrick Onyancha will lead the hosts’ charge.
The hosts face a huge challenge from 649th-ranked Ukrainian Shatakova Anastacia, Cuk Pia (681) from Slovenia and India’s Bhatti Tahia (768).
