Kenya’s men’s team tumbles out but women closer to sealing slot

Kenya’s men’s wheelchair tennis team’s hopes of making a debut in the World Cup went up in smoke after they lost 3-0 to South Africa at Nairobi Club on Saturday.

They were beaten in their third match of the World Team Cup Africa Tennis Qualifiers and finished third in Pool A.

But the hosts’ women’s team maintained their perfect run in the qualifiers by beating Ghana 2-1 in their second match to finish top of Pool ‘B’ and second in the six-team contest at the same venue.

The men’s team will face Pool ‘B’ third placed team, Egypt, on Sunday while the women are scheduled to play pool A’s top team Morocco.

Their aim is to emerge the best team so that they can feature in the Wheelchair Tennis World Cup to be held in Portugal from April 30 to May 6.

“We have trained well for the match against Morocco today. We are predicting a win over them to get a chance to play in the World Cup for the fourth time. It will be a tough game, but we are ready both mentally and physically,” said women team’s captain Jane Ndenga.

In the men’s category, Kenya are placed in Pool ‘A’ alongside South Africa, Tanzania and Cameroon while Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt are in Pool ‘B.’

Kenya’s women’s team is in pool B alongside Ghana and Cameroon while Morocco, Tanzania and Egypt are in Pool ‘A’. Ghana is in second place from beating Cameroon 3-0 and losing 2-1 to Kenya. Cameroon are last in Pool ‘B’ after losing 3-0 to both Kenya and Ghana in the women’s game.

In pool A, Egypt are second after defeating Tanzania 3-0 and losing 3-0 to Morocco. Tanzania, also in pool A, are third after falling 3-0 to both Egypt and Morocco. South Africa are the pool A leaders in the men’s contest, Tanzania are second after beating Kenya 2-1 and Cameroon 3-0, before losing 3-0 to South Africa. Cameroon are fourth after losing 3-0 to Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania in the same pool.

In Pool ‘B’ of the men’s game, Morocco arew in the driver’s seat after thumping Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt 3-0. Nigeria are in position two after beating both Ghana and Egypt 3-0. Egypt takes third place after thrashing Nigeria 3-0, but lost by a similar score to Egypt and Morocco.

In Saturday’s matches, Kenya’s Peter Munuve lost 6-3, 6-0 to Alwande Shkosana of South Africa while his compatriot Collins Omondi suffered the same fate at the hands of South Africa’s Evans Maripa 6-0, 6-1.

Kenya’s Munuve-Omondi duo later fell to the Shkosana-Maripa pair, losing 6-2, 6-2 in the doubles to see South Africa carry the day with a 3-0 win.

In the women’s category, Kenya’s Phoebe Masika beat Ghana’s Stacy Mansah in three straight sets of 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 while her teammate Asiya Sururu wrapped up the singles after beating Bridget Nartey of Ghana in two impressive sets of 6-1, 6-0.

Masika later paired up with women team captain Jane Ndega in the doubles where they outclassed the Mansah- Nartey duo from Ghana beating them 6-4, 6-1.