Local umpire will make history in Davis Cup tie
Two local tennis umpires were appointed to act in the upcoming Davis Cup tie between South Africa and Estonia.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Tennis South Africa (TSA) have named their officials for the upcoming Davis Cup tie between South Africa and Estonia.
The tie is to be played at the Irene Country Club outside Pretoria from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th February.
The Referee and ITF Representative at the Tie will be experienced umpire, Dr. Ashraf Hamouda of Qatar. The two chair umpires are Tebogo Maleka from Soweto, Johannesburg and Patrick Selepe from Soshanguve, Pretoria.
Chief of Umpires will be Mpho Makhoba of Atteridgeville, Pretoria. Makhoba was awarded as Technical Official of the year at the Gauteng Sports Awards.
Photo: BLD Communications
Dr. Hamouda, a silver badge ITF referee, will be making his first trip to South Africa. He is the officiating manager for the Qatar Tennis Federation and officiates at the ATP and WTA events in Qatar and Dubai as well as at the Wimbledon Championships. Dr. Hamouda also holds a chief of umpires gold badge.
This will be Tebogo Maleka’s debut tie and a special one being on home soil. Tebogo started officiating in 2009.
This will also be Patrick Selepe first Davis Cup tie he will be officiating in. Selepe, who has a prosthetic leg, becomes the first official with a disability to be awarded the opportunity to work as a chair umpire in Davis Cup competition in the country. Like Maleka, Selepe is a regular official on the Southern Africa Futures circuits. Both are white badge officials obtaining their ITF qualifications in November of 2015.
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