Malezi and Loreto win as Federer drops in ranking

By Oscar Pilipili

The Safaricom/Kenya Lawn Tennis Association Inter-Schools Championship concluded successfully at the Nairobi Club despite the rains which had threatened to disrupt the event.

Malezi School ‘A’ Team of Henry Ayesiga, Shabani Kabura and Dennis Gakuru won boys’ category while girls’ honours went to Loreto Valley Road School ‘A’ Team comprising Paige Mbugua, Nicole Wandera and Haiyat Shariff.

The winning teams paraded experienced players who are some of the best in the region.

They include Ayesige, Kabura and Mbugua who are all common figures in regional tennis tournaments.

Malezi ‘A’ dominated the group stage, winning all their matches to top their pool on maximum eight points.

They beat Oshwal ‘B’, Narok and Lenana with uniform 6-0 scored in first singles round and repeated the same in round two, beating the same opponents with yet another 3-0 point scores.

The KLTA said they are making efforts to ensure that the championships run annually and involve more schools across the country as a way to spread the sport nationally.

The KLTA officer Neil Mwombe said: "This is the only way to ensure that tennis stands to grow and spread."

Participants lauded both the KLTA and Safaricom for organising the event, saying the tournament was important as it comes at a time when there is not much happening in the tennis calendar.

On the international scene, for he first time in eight years, Roger Federer has fallen out of the top three in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings.

Britain’s Andy Murray moved from fourth to third in the new rankings released on Monday, with Federer dropping from number three to four.

Novak Djokovic remains number one and Rafael Nadal number two.

Murray has captured three consecutive titles in Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai, winning 25 of 26 matches since mid-August.

Federer, who has not played an ATP event since losing to Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals, is out of the top three for the first time since July 2003.