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THE SPIRIT OF SPORTSMANSHIP . . . Opponents (from left), Zimbabwe’s doubles partners Mark Fynn and Courtney Lock, shake hands with Andrei Soltoianu and Egor Matvievici of Moldova, soon after the draw at Harare Sports Club.

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
TENNIS Zimbabwe president Regis Bhunu has saluted the Davis Cup team for their 5-0 whitewash of Moldova at Harare Sports Club at the weekend in the Europe/Africa Group II relegation play-off to retain their spot in the same group next year.

After losing the first round tie 1-4 against Bosnia and Herzegovina in March, Zimbabwe needed to win the weekend’s tie against Moldova to remain in Group II.

And they did just that.

The team was made up of captain Martin Dzuwa, top player Takanyi Garanganga, the Lock brothers — Benjamin and Courtney — and Mark Fynn.

Tadiwa Chinamo was part of the team as a reserve player.

“We are very excited, it was a good performance by everyone who played. We also had our young player, Courtney Lock, playing. He had an emphatic performance. It was exciting and the fans really liked it.

“We are happy, the most important thing was to remain in this Group. Now we are playing for promotion into Group I and if that doesn’t happen, we hope to remain in Group II whilst our players get stronger,” said Bhunu.

Bhunu said they were grateful to their sponsors such as NetOne, Hyundai and Zuva, who came on board to assist the national association in hosting the event.

“We are quite happy with NetOne, who came on board and other companies like Zuva and Hyundai.

“There was a good drive and we see companies starting to come in. We hope to continue to grow and building and with the support we are getting from NetOne and other sponsors we will have better events.

“We just hope the situation keeps improving.

“There is also the issue of players, to see whether they are motivated or not, and it’s another area we also need to look at,” said Bhunu.

Bhunu said they were still working on the total budget used for the event but noted that it was more than $40 000.

TZ administrator, Cliff Nhokwara, said they were waiting for the draw to be held later this year to decide their opponents in next year’s matches.

“Now we wait for our fate which will be decided in September or October when they do the draw. Matches start in March and they will decide who will be the host.

“If we win the first match we will be competing to go to Group I in the second match, which will be a play-off because there will be 16 matches so the eight winners will be competing for the four spots into Group I.

“It’s not automatic to go to Group I. If we lose we go to the play-offs to be relegated or to stay in Group II.

“Our players did very well. It’s a reflection also that our team is fairly at the same level with other players playing internationally. Hopefully we can remain in Group II for a few more years whilst we get experience to compete in Group I,” said Nhokwara.