Kenya in winning start at World Team Cup qualifiers
What you need to know:
- The winning men and one women’s team will get to represent Africa at the World Team Cup due for Israel later this year.
- Kenya women’s team has qualified for last three events of the annual championships, while the men’s team is yet to.
Kenya men and women’s wheelchair tennis teams on Thursday recorded winning starts as the 2019 BNP Paribas World Team Cup Africa qualifiers served off at the Nairobi Club.
The men’s team claimed a clean sweep winning 3-0 against Ghana, with the women also securing the same score line against Tanzania in their encounter.
Kenya coach Lawrence Karanja was pleased with the good start but acknowledged there is room for improvement.
“We can still give better than this and I think that will be the determining factor on which team qualifies for the World Cup and which does not,” Karanja told Nation Sport on Thursday.
The Kenyan women’s team were first up on court against their Tanzania counterparts with second seed Asiya Mohamed Sururu taking on Lucy Shirima.
Asiya would have to work hard to secure a 6-3, 7-5 in the opening rubber setting Kenya off to a winning path.
Next up was Kenya’s top seed Jane Ndenga and she showed her quality dismissing Tanzanian number one Rehema Selemani 6-0, 6-0 in the half-an-hour contest. The duo would combine to put the icing cake in the double event which they won 6-1, 6-0 against the Tanzania pair.
It was also a comfortable outing for the Kenyan men as Collins Omondi and Peter Munuve won their singles matches against Abdullai Samadu and Abdul Razak. Omondi won 6-0, 6-1 as Munuve dropped only a single game in his 6-0, 6-1 win.
They completed the rout against the Tanzanians in the doubles winning 6-2, 6-0. Friday is a rest day for the Kenyan teams before they get back on court on Saturday.
In another match, Rwanda went down 3-0 to Nigeria in a men’s encounter. Seven nations are participating in the continental event which will end on Sunday. They are South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Egypt, Tanzania as well as the hosts Kenya.
The winning men and one women’s team will get to represent Africa at the World Team Cup due for Israel later this year. Kenya women’s team has qualified for last three events of the annual championships, while the men’s team is yet to.
