Tennis Kenya have unveiled a provisional squad of 16 players for the East Africa Zonal tennis championship in Dar- es-Salaam from January 7-12.
The final team will consist of three boys and a similar number of girls for the five-day championship in the Tanzanian capital.
The boys' team comprise of Brandon Sagala, Edmond Nywabri, Raymond Riziki, Farouk Juma, Barrack Ominde, Liberty Baraka, Dennis Muthiani and Raqeem Virani while the girls' category will have Linda Machimbo, Debbie Polo, Sophie Nelima, Azam Rajab and Rinaz Kassam.
Others who have made the cut include Alicia Owegi, Rosehilda Asumwa and Cynthia Cheruto. At stake in the Tanzanian capital will be a berth to the Africa Junior Championship in June in Tunisia.
Kenya will be up against hosts Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Eritrea, Rwanda, Burundi and Comoros for the zonal event.
Should Kenya qualify for the Africa Junior championships and win in both categories, the country will qualify for the Junior Davis Cup for the boys and Junior Fed Cup for the women later next year.
TK administrator Nancy Nduku expressed confidence that the team selected for the zonal competition will do the country proud. “We have a good crop of junior players in the country and coaches will select the team at the start of January and I believe the team chosen will be competitive,” added Nduku.
Kenya have had an impressive performance qualifying for the Africa Junior Championship for the past five years and Nduku said that experience will aid the team.
"Our track record is the best in the region. We have never missed the Africa Junior Championship and the coaches are confident they can deliver,” added Nduku.
She said following the zonal championship, there will be three ITF/CAT Zonal tournaments for reminder of January with the wheelchair tennis tournament slated for early February. Both events will be played at the Nairobi Cub.
The Kenya Davis Cup team will resume training next month ahead of the playoff match against Indonesia in Jakarta in March.
TK executive committee will meet this week to deliberate on having two Kenya open tournaments with one slated for January and and the other to be played in June.
