South African juniors tops in Africa

Post published:March 23, 2016
Post category:All / Sports / Tennis

Makayla Loubser of South Africa, Cape Town in the girls 14 and under finals on Saturday. Loubser beat Aisha Niyonkuru of Burundi 7-5 6-3 to take the title.

Pretoria, South Africa – The South African junior tennis team reclaimed their number one position in Africa when they won the team trophy of the 39^th ITF/CAT African Junior Championships which ended in Pretoria over the weekend.

Defending champions Egypt finished second with Morocco ending in third place over all.

In a dominant display of top class tennis played at the University of Pretoria, South African junior players in the under 14 and 16 age groups won 3 of the 8 titles up for grabs in the boys and girls competitions.

This performance gave the host nation enough points to end top of the log out of 29 countries participating. South Africa last won the title in 2012.

South African Philip Henning of Bloemfontein in action during the finals of the African Junior Championships on Saturday. Henning lost to Egyptian Yousef Khamis 6-7 (4) 2-6 at the University of Pretoria.

The lone South African singles title was won by Capetonian Makayla Loubser who beat Aisha Niyonkuru of Burundi 7-5 6-3 in the girls under 14. In the boys under 16, South African Philip Henning of Bloemfontein lost in the final to Egyptian Yousef Khamis 6-7 (4) 2-6.

In the doubles, South Africa won two titles and were a losing finalist in one age group.

“We are extremely proud of our juniors and their coaches and the tournament organisers” said Gavin Crookes, President of Tennis South Africa (TSA). “It was indeed a honour and privilege for the International Tennis Federation and Confederation of African Tennis to allow South Africa to host such a prestigious event. We did ourselves proud and with our juniors taking top honours it was the cherry on the cake.”