Lowveld Junior Tennis Association players participated in the annual Mpumalanga interdistrict tournament in Middelburg last weekend.

Lowveld competed against Highveld and West Mpumalanga in the u/11, u/13, u/15 and u/19 age groups. Lowveld beat Highveld narrowly by two points overall, with West Mpumalanga finishing in third.

In the u/11 age group, the Lowveld team finished in third place. Lowveld’s number four player, Pascal Middel, won both of his singles matches, as did number six player Tshegofatso Ramphele.

There were many close matches with three of the girls singles against Highveld going to three sets, with Tahnea Theron winning one of the matches 12-10 in the third set. Luan Siebrits and Pascal’s doubles against Highveld was a close match with the Lowveld duo being defeated 14-12 in the third set.

The Lowveld won the u/13 age group, with number three boys player JP Snyman, number four Dylan Ormiston and number five Yusuf Asvat, winning both of their singles matches.

Number one girls player Gabriella Koekemoer and num-ber three Danielle Lombard won both of their singles matches. Snyman was undefeated during the tournament in all his six matches. There were many tightly contested matches, in-cluding Christian Smith at the tough number one, narrowly losing to West Mpumalanga’s Heinrich Rootman 10-5 in the third set, and to Highveld’s Jacques Slabbert 10-6 in the third set.

In the u/15 age group, the Lowveld team finished in first place, with number three boys player Michiel Eksteen, number one girls player Arili Boshoff, number two Lize Oosthuizen, number three Natasha Wales and number four Tammy Fourie all going undefeated in singles.
Arili was impressive as she won all of her six matches. The u/15 age group was close, with two sets separating the Lowveld from the Highveld and two matches separating the Lowveld from West Mpumalanga.

The u/19 age group was won by the Lowveld. Boys number six player Khush Mehta, girls number two Michelle Boshoff, number five Nadia van den Heever and number six Juwayria Asvat, won both of their singles matches against the other two districts. Despite still being u/15, Khush was undefeated in singles, doubles and mixed doubles in the older age group. The Lowveld boys won three of their doubles against Highveld while the girls won all three of their doubles against West Mpumalanga.

“I am very proud of the Lowveld players and their commitment to their tennis and district. This is the fourth year in a row that the Lowveld has won the interdistrict tournament, and it shows that tennis is growing here,” said Lowveld chairman, Eckhardt van der Linde. “There were some competitive matches over the weekend and every player represented the Lowveld with pride. I look forward to seeing all players work even harder during the year to con-tinue playing at their best.”