Senior Sports Reporter
FOLLOWING Zimbabwe's promotion back into the Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs, Tennis Zimbabwe president Walter Jera underscored the importance of investing in juniors to create a wider pool of competitive players.
The Zimbabwe Davis Cup team made up of siblings Benjamin and Courtney Lock, and Lyle Zaloumis finished third at the Africa Group III over the weekend to earn one of the three slots for promotion into World Group II Play-offs. The week-long tournament attracted six countries -- Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
The team was led by non-playing captain Takanyi Garanganga.
Three countries were promoted including Zimbabwe.
However, the concern has been the failure of the county to establish itself in Group II.
"It has been like back and forth. But what it also shows is, certainly we don't belong to Group III and certainly we are going to find it tough in Group II.
"So, what needs to be done now is to ensure that we beef up for staying in Group II.
"And what that requires is even in this one, you saw the entry of another young player, Zaloumis. In the past, we saw (Benedict) Badza.
"What we need to do now, as a plan going forward to stay in Group II, is we need to strengthen our youngsters because Benji has carried us and Courtney has carried us. We now need to build on a strong young team that takes on the experience of Benjamin and Courtney.
"That's the only way we can ensure that we can stay afloat," said Jera.
The other two countries that earned promotion were the tournament winners Namibia and second-placed Nigeria.
Zimbabwe, who lost the opening encounter 1-2 to Nigeria, had a strong come-back to post victories against Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Namibia, and Benin. The Namibian team have these young ones as well, but their young ones are having experience on competitive tours outside, which is what Zimbabwe must concentrate on. "Get resources, make sure that our young team is exposed to tougher competitions for us to be able to stay."
Jera saluted the Zimbabwean players for their effort.
"They played with their hearts. They made a good show of it.
"First match is always tricky; you need to acclimatise and everything else. So, I really can't blame the guys who lost in the first match, it's always tricky.
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"So, the way they then recovered, and turned it around shows that the guys fought with their hearts and that's what we need. And that's what we have always seen and expected from these guys and they have delivered," said Jera.
Zimbabwe were relegated to Africa Group III in February this year when they went down 3-1 to Hong Kong in an away World Group II Play-off tie. It was the third year in a row that Zimbabwe found themselves back in Africa Group III.
Some of the promising players the national association is pinning hopes on include Takura Mhwandagara, Benedict Badza, and Tatenda Mutetwa. "So, already that's a big pool as we have already seen that in the past, we even had just two players carrying the nation. But in our pool of juniors, we already have more than five.
"In terms of resources, if we can concentrate say on four, then we have created enough critical base," Jera said. Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire were relegated to Africa Group IV after finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
