Victorious Kenyan women seal World Team Cup slot

Jane Ndenga of Kenya plays Selemani Rehema of Tanzania during their ITF BNP Paribas Wheel chair World Team Cup African qualifying final match on February 20, 2017 at the Nairobi Club. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

What you need to know:

  • Kenya women’s team on Sunday sealed a place in this year’s International Tennis Federation BNP Paribas Wheelchair World Team Cup.
  • The home side achieved the feat after they beat Tanzania 2-0 in the continental qualifiers that ended at Nairobi Club.
  • It will be the second time the women will be making their appearance having also qualified for the global showpiece in 2014.

Kenya women’s team on Sunday sealed a place in this year’s International Tennis Federation BNP Paribas Wheelchair World Team Cup.

The home side achieved the feat after they beat Tanzania 2-0 in the continental qualifiers that ended at Nairobi Club.

It will be the second time the women will be making their appearance having also qualified for the global showpiece in 2014. This year’s World Cup will be held from May 1 to 7 in Sardinia, Italy.

Kenya men’s team failed to followed in the footsteps after they lost to 2-1 to Tanzania to settle for second place. Both teams won their respective singles before Tanzania won the doubles to break Kenyan hearts. Phoebe Masika beat Lucy Shirima 6-2 6-3 in the first singles match to give the hosts a good start. 

Top seed Jane Ndenga earned the Kenyan women team a slot in the World Team Cup with a 6-4 7-5 hard fought win over Tanzania’s Rehema Selemani to earn Kenya an unassailable 2-0 lead in the second singles.

The result sent Kenya coach Lawrence Karanja into ecstasy and the veteran tactician believes the team can better their 2014 performance.

“This is our best performance of this competition and we have achieved what we set out to do when the event started. The ladies can be proud of their achievement. They’ve worked hard for it,” Karanja told Nation Sport. “We will come up against the best in the world and we therefore need to prepare well before then.”

Kenya finished third in last year’s event, with Tanzania losing to Morocco in the final.