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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter

THE NEW Winners tennis tournament is expected to return next month after a two-year break with Midlands Province hosting the event.

The tournament is due to take place from January 5 to 8 at Kwekwe Sports Club and this is the first time it will be staged outside Harare.

The tournament was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and could not take place last year and this year as well.

This year, there has been an improvement with more events being staged and there are high hopes of a better year in 2022.

Tournament director, Providence Nyoni, said they are expecting at least 150 players.

“Obviously we are going to run it at Kwekwe Sports Club. We have eight clay courts.

“For entries, we are expecting not less than 150 entries and maybe we are actually going to have more because Kwekwe, being central, kids from Harare, Bulawayo, Zvishavane will come and if we have Mutare, maybe we are going to have more than 150.

“And also since this is the first time coming to Kwekwe, we are hoping kids from Kwekwe and the surround areas in Midlands are going to learn a lot,” said Nyoni.  The junior competition will see players competing in various age-groups from Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and 18-and-Under.

The 16 and 18-year-olds have been combined to make up one age-group, the 18-and-Under. This is due to the limited number in these age-groups.

The New Winners tournament will mark the beginning of the new season and with the tournament being played outside Harare, it is also a welcome move as most of the national events have been mainly staged in Harare.

It gives the junior players, including beginners, the opportunity to assess their readiness for other major local and regional competitions.

Nyoni said they are looking forward to an exciting event since players have had limited competition because of the pandemic.

“We are expecting a very huge turn out as many Zimbabwean players had missed this prestigious event and this time around being hosted in a central town like Kwekwe will make it even more attractive.

“Not so many clubs offers clay court facilities as Kwekwe Sports Club does, so it will be fun and exciting to watch the players play such a tournament on a different court surface that is not common in Zimbabwe,” said Nyoni.

He also said they are taking advantage of the event to field some of the players under their developmental programme at the tournament.

The Midlands board will cater for their expenses, including their entry fees and transport.

“We also have our Midlands Tennis Developmental Programme under which we have kids who cannot afford to pay the entry fees and transport, we will help with the entry fees and transport.

“As a board, we will pay for 10 kids, they will be taken care of by the board,” said Nyoni.

Entries are already open and close on January 3, 2022.

The last edition of the tournament was held in December 2019.