Ellina Mhlanga Harare Bureau
TENNIS Zimbabwe president Regis Bhunu says plans are in place to raise funds for their Davis Cup tie against Finland in the Europe/Africa Zone Group II early next year. Zimbabwe, who remained in Group II this year when they beat Moldova 5-0 in a relegation play-off at Harare Sports Club in July, will be travelling to Finland for the tie set for March 4 to 6 and Bhunu said they are targeting to raise at least US$30,000 for the trip.
“We’ve done a budget and our target is around US$30,000. But given a chance to have more we would want about US$40,000 to allow our players to be in camp for a long period and maybe to even assist them to play some specific tournaments before the tie. That’s if we’re able to raise US$40,000.
“We’ve already approached our traditional sponsors and we’re just waiting for their response,” said Bhunu.
Bhunu hinted that the team is likely to camp outside the country ahead of the tie in the event that they manage to raise adequate funds and the selection team is currently monitoring different players in terms of their performances ahead of team selection next year.
“You would want the players to be in an environment close to where they’ll be playing. We haven’t yet finalised on that but it depends on whether we have the funds.
“The selection team decided not to name the team now. They want to continue watching how the players are performing maybe until January,” said Bhunu.
The TZ president believes the future is bright for the country as local players continue to improve and noted that 2015 was a fruitful year for tennis with Zimbabwe hosting a number of events including the Davis Cup ties, ITF Futures events and the ITF 18-and-Under junior tournaments.
“Our players are getting better and better and if you look at the calibre of players that we have, most of them are coming from the junior circuit. For instance Benjamin Lock, his tennis has gone up. We foresee a future where we will be strong.
“2015 was an excellent year in terms of our tennis development and involvement of players in tennis. You find that locally we managed to host a number of tournaments including junior competitions. We had three weeks of the (ITF) 18-and-Under, three weeks of ITF Futures events and the Davis Cup. I can say 2015 is one of our highlights for the past 10 years.
“In terms of players activity, you find that a lot of our players are moving around playing Futures tournaments. The numbers are increasing showing the appetite for our players to turn professional. It has been a very good year for tennis. If we’re able to do the same in 2016 then we will consolidate this,” said Bhunu.
Zimbabwe earned promotion into the Europe/Africa Zone Group II last year from Africa Zone Group III. And this year they hosted the two Davis Cup ties against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldova in March and July respectively.
They lost the first tie against Bosnia-Herzegovina before prevailing over Moldova to remain in Group II and next year they will be hoping for better fortunes as they seek to move to the next Group.
If they win against Finland in March they will then take on either Georgia or Denmark in the second round in July. If they manage to get another victory from that tie they will then go for the play-offs for promotion into Group I.
But if they lose the first tie they will play in the relegation play-offs to remain in Group II.