By Oscar Pilipili
Aaliya Bashir beat all opposition to lift girls’ under-16 trophy as Smashers’ Junior Tennis Challenge at Karen Country Country.
Bashir who was on a winning spree registered her first victory in the tournament when she easily overcame Matseka Kithinji 6-1, 6-2 and went ahead to defeat Melissa Brown of Tanzania 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the category played on round robin.
The champion wrapped up her impressive performance with 6-0, 6-4 victory over Lornah Bwejje and bag maximum points.
Bwejje and Brown used the tournament to prepare for Airtel Rising Stars National Secondary Schools Term Two ‘B’ Championships scheduled to start at Moi Forces Academy with arrival of teams today.
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Burundians dominated the boys’ under-16 and under-19 categories where they bagged major trophies.
Ishaka Abdul beat Hashim Nintonga 6-2, 6-3 to lift the crown, while Zuberi Moussa overcame Frank Kinyanjui of Kenya 6-2, 6-3 to take third position.
In the boys’ under-19, East African top junior, Amadi Kagoma of Burundi beat Tanzania’s Yasin Shabani Lila 6-2, 6-3, while Jamin Luvembe of Kenya beat compatriot Richard Ooko 6-0 to finish in bronze position.
Kagoma, Shabani and Luvembe are in Nairobi teams for schools games.
Luvembe said: "The tournament came just at the right time when we’re about to play in schools games. The event was good training ground for the schools games."
improved game
Kagoma said Nairobi team’s players are advantaged to feature in such a high profile tournament ahead of schools games.
"No any other team has gone through high performance training like Nairobi’s. I believe our participation in the event has helped improve our game," he said.
In the boys’ under-12, Dennis Moses of Zimbabwe beat Aahil Saleh of Kenya 6-4, 6-3 to take top spot, with home player Ricky Omondi taking third position after hitting Binal Jayasinghe in play-off.
In the girls’ under-14, upcoming Kisumu junior, Linda Janet Amondi, narrowly beat Siobhan Shaw of the UK 6-4, 7-5 in a closely contested match to be crowned.
Shaw did not return home empty-handed as she overcame country mate Jessica Humpries in straight sets of 6-4, 6-4 in play-off.
This tournament, which was hosted for the third year running at Karen Country Club, is a warm-up event for the East Africa Junior Open, which will take place next weekend at Sadili Oval.
Both tournaments form part of the Tennis Africa Cup, and players’ benefit from regional ranking points.
The tournament attracted 54 players and 74 entries from children from different parts of East Africa, Southern Africa and Europe.
Meanwhile, after a two-day break that paved the way for Smashers Challenge, East Africa Safari Junior Camp resumes as players return to Sadili Oval for training that started a week ago.
At the same time, Sadili Director and Malezi School founder Liz Odera is happy with level of game displayed by players from the institution.
Malezi has won Nairobi national schools trophy for the last years. Its six players out of eight form the Nairobi team for this year’s games.
