Lawn Tennis Association of Malawi (LTAM) has introduced a self-sponsored tournament to drill youngsters.
The association’s Technical Director, Thompson Mtengula, said the competition was on a pilot project restricted to youngsters undergoing training at Malawi National Tennis Centre situated at Country Club Limbe in Blantyre.
Mtengula said they had adopted Davies Cup format to enable youngsters, drawn from Chigumula, Mpingwe, Bangwe, Chiwembe, Manje and Kanjedza townships, familiarise themselves with the internationally-recognised format.
The Davis Cup is a men’s premier international team event. The women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Fed Cup.
“We want to keep the players busy since we don’t have any junior tournament to assess them. Through this way, we will keep them pre-occupied with tennis. We are using Davies Cup format to teach them discipline, to love one another, respect seniors and understand the need to work as a team,” he said.
Mtengula said if the project becomes successful in Blantyre, the association will run similar projects in Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Zomba.
The players have been split into groups namely Adidas, Nike, Puma, Wilson, Prince and Dunlop.
“They are playing on a league basis. So far, we are playing our second round and we will have two more rounds to determine the champions,” he said.
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