PHOTOS BY John Tapuch
SAB handed over a set of sports equipments at one of the Federation’s development centres – Elandsdoorn, a town in Sekhukhune District Municipality in the Limpopo Province.
The handover, which included Wheelchair Spares (Tyres, Tubes), tennis balls, Grips and strings / restringing and tennis Racquets will richly benefit over eight development centres in the region including Elandsdoorn, Bakwethu, Egodeni and others.
The far north region has had a wheelchair tennis program since the inception of the sport in the country 13 years ago and has produced champions like Dennilton’s Danny Mohlamonyane who represented SA at World Team Cups and has played at a higher level on the international circuit.
Besides Mohlamonyane, the region can boast Kgothatso Montjane who is currently ranked no 6 in the world in the women’s division, and has represented SA in 3 Paralympic Games and reached the semi-final of Wimbledon. Other players include Evans Maripa, a former world number 11 men’s player and ex-professional player Sydwell Mathonsi.
In handing over the equipment, which will continue to nurture the development of the sport, Josaya Moima, a coach at the centre expressed his commitment to grow the sport and how the donation will assist, saying: “I love working with these athletes and I will keep at it until we have a top 10 world ranked player from one of these centres in Dennilton.”“Our dream is to create the ideal company in Africa, one which makes a real difference in society,” commented Zanele Mphuthi, Stakeholder and Licensing Specialist.
According to Karen Losch, General Manager for Wheelchair Tennis South Africa (WTSA), donations play a huge role in providing the necessary support to effectively offer sustainable programmes in disadvantaged communities.
“Our goal has always been to reach out to people living with disabilities with the focus heavily biased toward previously disadvantaged areas. We provide equipment, empower coaches and pay tournament entry fees, but we simply do not have enough resources and equipment for each and every player. So, these donations play a huge part in enabling us to keep these programmes running successfully. We are very thankful for the support,” says Losch.
