South Africa’s Men’s and Women’s teams have secured the tickets to represent Africa at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup event in Turkey.
They picked the tickets after defeating Morocco’s Men’s and Women’s teams in the finals of the Africa Qualification event which ended in Abuja on Sunday, 11 February, 2024.
Mariska Venter started the onslaught against Morocco, as she raced to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Samira Benichi before Grand Slam winner, Kgothatso Montjane ensured qualification by defeating Najwa Awane in a 6-3, 6-0 game.
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The Men’s game was not as easy, though, as Morocco gave South Africa a tough time in the first rubber. Said Himam lost 3-6, 5-7 to Evans Maripa in a terse first set.
South Africa, armed with the knowledge that the game could go either way, responded appropriately in the second rubber when Alwande Sikhosana took on Lhaj Boukartacha.
The Moroccan player stood absolutely no chance when his South African counterpart got into the game fully. 6-1, 6-1 the game ended in favour of South Africa. Thus, Morocco came second in the BNP Paribas World Team Cup qualification event.
In the final classification matches played on Sunday, Nigeria came third in both the Men’s and Women’s events after beating Rwanda and Tanzania respectively.
In a chat with Nigeria Tennis Live after the qualification, Patrick Selepe, the South African coach, stated that his team was in the competition to qualify and they were happy to have won.
He noted, however, that “What we have to do now is to fight so that we can remain in the world group so that other African teams can come to join us.”