The Team SA tennis squad have finished their Region 5 Youth Games with a gold medal in the team event, to take the total coming from these Games in Windhoek to seven heading into the final day, writes Mark Lemke.
They beat Botswana 4-3 in the final at the Central Tennis Courts in Windhoek. The format begins as four singles matches, two boys and two girls. Simphiwe Ngwenya and Abigayel Vosloo won their matches, however Bogdan Mandic and Jessica Schilz were beaten. This left the contest tied at 2-2.
The next stage was two doubles matches. This ended with a win for Team SA and a win for Botswana and left one mixed doubles match to decide who took first prize. Ngwenya and Schilz were the two selected for Team SA. The contest went down to the wire as it entered a final set super-tiebreak. The South African duo played exceptionally and won the tiebreak 10-7.
This meant the Team SA tennis ended their Region 5 campaign with seven medals. Three gold, two silver and two bronze. A total of 145 medals overall (65 gold) had been secured from across the codes this campaign, compared tio 113 (60 gold)m from Lilongwe in 2022.
The manager, Teresa Schweitzer, reflected on their time in Namibia. “I am so proud of our team. This final was highly competitive, but we focused on bringing a good energy and enjoying every moment of the battle. It has been a successful Region 5 run and we are all very happy to have won these seven medals for Team SA.”
The group is now splitting up with each tennis star having their own paths for the future. They will all continue to train hard and push their playing careers to the highest level they can.
Photo: Frennie Shivambu
