GHANA's Muhamed Salif yesterday emerged winner of the boys' singles at the Interrnationnal Tennis Federation (ITF) under-18 circuit after beating Nigeria's Idoko Canndy 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The tough match saw Salif coming from behind, after losing the first set, and beat his opponent in the last two sets. In the doubles the two foes Salif and Candy teamed up and won the day after slamming Ato Baba Eric and Elias Mukember from EthiopiaGhana s 7-5, 6-3.
In the girls' category, the singles final could not take off due to the illness of Pillay Yudesnee of South Africa who was supposed to play Kate Mcdade.
Tournament referee Lazarous Pepala said Mcdade was therefore declared winner of the girls' singles. In the doubles category Zimbabwe s pair of Masiyazi Fadzai and Mawire Fadzai beat Aulombard Sara (Frannce) and Razafind Ramaso Semeno from Madagascar 4-6, 4-6, 6-4 to emerge winners.
ZTF Southern Zone vice chairman Tolani Zulu said the tournament went on well despite the illnesses that came up. He noted that the standards exhbited by the foreign players were higher than those exhibited at last year s tournamennt.
He acknowledged that the Zambian players performed poorly due to lack of exposure and experience. "In order to raise our standard we have put in place programmes where our palyers will be trained every week," he said. He added that some Zambia players will be featured at the next monney circuit to be palyed in Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa next month.
