Tennis glory eludes local male players again
Malawi Open Lawn Tennis Tournament glory continued to elude local male players on Sunday when Zambian Edgar Kazembe won the competition for the sixth time at Malawi National Tennis Centre within Country Club Limbe (CCL) in Blantyre.
No Malawian even reached the singles’ final in which Kazembe outclassed Zimbabwean Liberty Nzula 6-2, 6-2 to take home K720 000 first-prize.
In the ladies’ category, Mary Luhanga successfully defended the title after beating local rival Patricia Matola-Mlomba 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the final. She also received K720 000 for her feat.
Kazembe, who missed last year’s edition and lost the 2014 contest to Kenyan Ishmael Changawa, had the luxury of booting out last year’s champion Italian Egon Tascher 6-7, 6-4 7-6 in the quarter-finals and Malawi’s third seed Julius Taulo 6-0, 6-2 in the semis.
Malawi’s top seed James Matewere got eliminated in the quarter-final with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 defeat by Nzula.
Kazembe also paired with his compatriot Nkumbu Chonya in the doubles finals to beat Matewere and Taulo while Luhanga joined hands with Linda Msiska to do it in the ladies’ section against Clara Hugas Mallorqui and Zione Nkhoma.
Kazembe attributed local athletes’ struggles to luck of participation in Southern African regional competitions.
“It requires a miracle for one to win an international event while restricting themselves to local competitions. I have not met or seen any Malawian senior tennis player at any international event in years and it will remain a pipedream for local players,” he said.
Nevertheless, Matewere and Taulo said they can do better if there were more local competitions prior to the Malawi Open event, whose 2016 edition was sponsored by Puma Energy, Mibawa Studios and Lube Masters. n
