Kenyan women eye success in World Team Cup

Kenya women's wheelchair tennis team celebrate with the trophy after they beat Tanzania to win the ITF BNP Paribas Wheelchair World Team Cup African Qualifiers on February 19, 2017 at the Nairobi Club. PHOTO | COURTESY |

What you need to know:

  • Kenyan women are targeting an improved performance after sealing a place in International Tennis Federation (ITF) BNP Paribas Wheelchair World Team Cup.
  • The team will be making only its second appearance at the annual global piece, having first played at the World Cup back in 2014 in Alphen, Netherlands.
  • This year’s showpiece will be held from May 1 to 7 in Sardinia, Italy.

Kenyan women are targeting an improved performance after sealing a place in International Tennis Federation (ITF) BNP Paribas Wheelchair World Team Cup.

The team will be making only its second appearance at the annual global piece, having first played at the World Cup back in 2014 in Alphen, Netherlands. This year’s showpiece will be held from May 1 to 7 in Sardinia, Italy.

In 2014, the home ladies finished last in the 12-team competition but walked away with team of the year trophy after they qualified for their first ever World Cup.

Kenya sealed a return to the global event at the weekend after a 2-0 win over neighbours Tanzania on a tense final day and coach Lawrence Karanja has vowed to ensure the team does not end up last this time round.

Karanja coached the team in the Netherlands tournament, where they lost all their matches including the position 11/12 place play-off to Russia.

“The team has got more experience since 2014 and we believe it will come in handy in Italy. Winning the competition is of course a big ask, but I am confident we can improve on our ranking,” Karanja told Nation Sport.

Top seed Jane Ndenga alongside second seed Phoebe Masika were part of the squad that played in the World Cup and again masterminded Kenya’s win on Sunday.

Phoebe Masika beat Lucy Shirima 6-2 6-3 in the first singles match to give the hosts a good start before Ndenga dug deep to edge out Rehema Selemani 6-4 7-5 in the second singles.

The duo will be joined by debutantes Asiya Mohammed and Elizabeth Njoki in Italy. And Mohammed is confident the team will give a good account in Italy calling on Tennis Kenya to embark on adequate preparations.

“The team is a mixture of youth and experience and I believe with proper training and exposure, we can go far in the World Cup,” she said.

Karanja confirmed that he will meet Tennis Kenya officials to discuss the team’s training schedule.

“We have close to eight weeks to prepare and it is paramount we don’t rest on our laurels. We need to work on our mental ability because it almost cost us,” the tactician added.

In Sardinia, Kenya will come up against defending champions Netherlands, runners-up Britain, Japan, Germany among others. The World Cup will also feature the men’s competition, quad event and the junior category.

The BNP Paribas World Team Cup is often referred to as the Davis and Fed Cups of wheelchair tennis.