Dar teens record ITF/CAT victories

Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian tennis youngsters yesterday made a bright start to the ITF/CAT East African Junior Championships that got underway at the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club.

Four local players – Emmannuel Mallya, Menard Frank, Ibrahim Sadick and Omari Sulle– recorded wins in the first day of the 11-nation championship.

Mallya, one of the most promising players, took the Dar Gymkhana Club courts by storm, sweeping aside Hassan Maolida from Comoro in straight sets of 6-0, 6-1.

Mallya’s victory spurred other Tanzanians to make flying starts. Frank went head-to-head against Kigoth Oliver and managed to win 6-0, 6-0, reducing the fast-serving Kenyan to a mere novice.

Sadick was equally impressive when his turn came as he punished Ethiopian Nehma Molla by two straight sets of 6-2, 6-1 while Sulle earned a walkover after his opponent failed to show up.

Speaking after the match, Mallya told The Citizen that he was over the moon after making a dream start at the tournament.

“I always wanted to start on a high note and that is exactly what happened today (yesterday); Iam over the moon.

“I played a brilliant player, but I knew his game because I played him before, so I tried as much as possible to punish him whenever he made errors,” said a visibly elated Mallya.

The Arusha-based player expressed his optimism that he will keep the fine form going to the final day of the weeklong event.

“I won’t be carried away by this victory, I am confident that I will continue winning to the last day; my dream is to win the top prize,” he said.

Ibrahim, who dispatched the Ethiopian, echoed Mallya’s words stressing that he will march on to the trophy.

He said: “I think fans were treated to a good match. After qualifying for the second round, I will try hard to improve my serve and attack, and hopefully I will be the one winning the trophy.”

“However, sometimes in tennis you need luck. I was very lucky that everything I was playing was giving me points. I think that Molla played well too and he was just unfortunate.”

Molla had predicted a tough match and warned his opponent to trade cautiously lest he would fall from his powerful serves, but his mind game never worked.

“He played better than me, I made many minor mistakes and he capitalised on them to beat me,” the Ethiopian gave a candid assessment of the game.

The tournament has attracted players from hosts Tanzania, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Seychelles, Sudan, Eritrea and Rwanda.