Amanze heads Africa’s tennis body

The Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) has recently appointed the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) president Nelson Amanze to the position of President of African Development Committee.

Amanze, who is also the Vice President of CAT, will be a very busy man during the four-year term to develop the sport in Africa. “I will be in charge of all tennis development programmes and activities at continental level. This includes dealing with tennis facilities, training and administration in all African countries,” Amanze said in an interview this week. Moreover, the local sports administrator said his mandate as development president will be to ensure that he develops players, coaches and officials throughout the continent.

“We will make sure that each country has its own coaching development plan. This will be based on whether they specialise in development, intermediate or elite coaching.” Amanze added that the programmes they will be developing will be in line with those of the International Tennis Association (ITF). The busy sports administrator said his new position will be an added advantage as it will provide numerous opportunities for the BTA.

“Botswana has already benefitted a lot, as we recently sent our official to tennis course in Cape Town, South Africa through the mother body.” Amanze added that the BTA recently reached an important milestone after one of its officials Gaone Poane qualified to officiate at international competitions, which is a first for local tennis.

Amanze currently holds another regional administration portfolio after he was re-elected as head of the Southern African Tennis Bloc recently. Amanze, who was appointed to his new position around November last year conceded that there was pressure to perform after he was appointed to his international position, and that this would have a toll on his overall performance.

“BTA election will be held later this year, and   I have officially announced that I will not be contending for any of the positions,” he said. Meanwhile, the BTA made tremendous strides in development structures last year after junior female player Tshegofatso Tsiang gained her first-ever International Tennis Federation  (ITF) ranking. 

“This was her biggest achievement of the year, earning her the award of best female player at the High Performance Centre at Pretoria, South Africa where she is based.” In addition, both Tsiang and another junior player Thato Holms have recently booked themselves a place to train at the ITF centre in Morocco where they will be under the watchful eye of international experts.

The BTA also sent two players for training at an elite high performance-training centre in the United States. The two players are Innocent Tidimane and Nthabiseng Mogopodi. In addition, the national team is expected to compete in continental junior championships in Tunisia in the under 18 category.