Tennis: 29th ITF/CAT African Junior Championship - Southern and East Africa qualifying event-Lauro and Ah-Shung U16 doubles runners-up |18 January 2006

On the hard surface courts of the Gymkhana Sports Club of Dar es Salaam, Gloria Lauro and Stephanie Ah-Shung joined forces to take second place and the silver medals in the ladies’ under-16 doubles competition played on a round-robin system.

The local duo even defeated eventual winners Lise Karenzi of Rwanda and Alemseghed of Eritrea, with both teams finishing with two wins and a loss. But the Seychellois duo lost the gold medal on game score difference.

Speaking to Sports Nation, 13-year-old Lauro said: “I’m happy with the silver medal, but I’m not entirely satisfied with the result as we could have done better.”

Ah-Shung, 15, echoed Lauro’s comments, adding that “it was too hot there. Otherwise everything went on fine.”

Stefan Romain had a Swazi as partner in the boys’ under-16 doubles competition and they finished third out of four teams, but did not receive a bronze medal for their effort.

Stefan’s younger brother Kevin was involved in the boys’ under-14 doubles competition and together with his Swazi partner they lost all their four matches.

The duo of Mugabe of Uganda and Niyonshuti of Rwanda was the winner with four wins, while Chung (Mozambique) and Ghebreyohanes (Eritrea) finished second.

Tanzanian Justin Joseph (boys’ under-14), Ugandan Duncan Mugabe (boys’ under-16) and Tanzanian Mkunde Iddy (girls’ under-14) were the category winners of the two singles tournaments. The two ladies’ under-16 winners were Neema Mathayo of Tanzania and Lize Karenzi of Rwanda.

Kevin Romain and Lauro competed in the under-14 age group, while Stefan Romain and Ah-Shung played in the under-16 category.

Only Ah-Shung managed to get two wins against opponents from Swaziland and Uganda in the singles with the others losing all their matches.

According to head of delegation Carlo Lauro, who is also the Seychelles Tennis Association (STA) secretary, playing conditions were tough in Dar es Salaam and the players had to play three or four matches daily.

He added that the tournaments have given the young players the chance to play against some of the best players in their age groups in East Africa.

Seven countries – Tanzania with ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams, Rwanda, Uganda, Mozambique, Eritrea, Swaziland and Seychelles – participated in the two tournaments.

Angola, Djibouti, Lybia and Sudan were also supposed to participate but did not make it to Tanzania.

Uganda and Tanzania ‘A’ teams will represent East Africa at the African Junior Tennis Championship in Kenya in April.

It must be noted that the Seychellois players, coached by Anthony Brioche, did not follow the training camp organised prior to the two tournaments as they left the country four days late due to an administrative error.

G. G.