|
|
Zimbabwe: Cara Ready for Olympic Games
 |
 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Herald (Harare)
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
Collin Matiza
Harare
Cara Black is looking forward at having her last dance with the Olympic Games and she is determined to carry the country's flag high when the world's biggest sporting event explodes into life in Beijing, China, in four months' time.
Black, Zimbabwe's torchbearer in the tough world of the women's professional tennis circuit, is set to make her third straight appearance at the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.
The 29-year-old player first represented Zimbabwe at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, in 2000 before gracing the Games again four years later in Athens, Greece. Black, a doubles specialist, was earlier this year given a wildcard by the International Tennis Federation to represent Zimbabwe in the women's singles competition at the Beijing Games.
This came after the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee applied to the International Olympic Committee for Black to be given a special dispensation, which would enable her to play singles in Beijing. And Black, who is back in the country for a one-week break from the professional circuit, yesterday spoke about her passion for the Olympic Games and how she cherishes every moment she spends at the world's biggest sporting extravaganza. Black, who indicated that she is likely to hang up her rackets in two years' time, said she felt honoured to have been given another chance to represent Zimbabwe at the Olympics in Beijing.
"I'm really excited to be given a wildcard to play (singles) at the Olympic Games for the third time after having played at the same Games in Sydney and Athens. "It was quite a good and exciting experience. "It was also great to learn that the ITF have agreed to give me another opportunity of representing Zimbabwe in singles in Beijing where I think competition will be more exciting and competitive . . . I'm really looking forward to it." Black said although she was now more of a doubles player, she was confident of doing well in singles in Beijing. "So far I've played only two singles matches this year because I don't have a high ranking in the world singles rankings. "But I'm going to try to play as many singles matches as I can leading up to the Beijing Games and I'm confident that I'll be in good shape by the time I go there," Black said.
As part of her preparations for the Beijing Games, Black, who is scheduled to fly out of the country today for Germany, will first play in the German Open in Berlin, starting next Monday. Although she has entered for the doubles competition in Berlin with her American partner Liezel Huber, she was also hoping to play singles at the same tournament if the event's organisers grant her request for a wildcard.
|
From Berlin, Black will move on to Rome for the Italian Open (May 12-18) and then take a few days off before she flies to Paris for the second Grand Slam of the year - the French Open - which will be played at Roland Garros from May 25 to June 8. After playing at Roland Garros, Black is also expected to defend the Wimbledon doubles title with Huber in London from June 23 to July 6.
And it is only after playing at Wimbledon that Black is expected to fly to Beijing for the Olympic Games, which will run from August 8-24. But is there any chance of her making her fourth straight appearance at the next Games in London in 2012? Black said she doesn't think so, as she was likely to have retired by then. "I think I still have another two years of playing competitive tennis. In fact, tennis-wise, at 29, I'm now a 'madala'. "I've been a professional since I was 16 and it's been a long time looking at all the travelling around the world, but I think I still have two more years provided that I'm injury-free."
Black said she was also looking at settling back home in Zimbabwe upon her retirement despite being married to her Australian mental and fitness trainer Brett Stephens. "I might spend a few years in Australia, but definitely I'm very keen to come back and settle down here in Zimbabwe. "I love Zimbabwe and it's still my home," Black said.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
