Botswana: Malak Back Home From Tunisia

Gaborone — Tennis player, Malak Macheng returned home from Tunisia where she competed for the first time in the Masters Tournament.

Malak, who is the first Motswana female to represent the country at the high profile tournament, finished in seventh position.

Welcoming Malak at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport on Monday, Minister of Sport and Arts, Jacob Kelebeng applauded her for representing the country well.

He said Malak was a promising tennis superstar as evidenced by her performance in the past tournaments.

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"We are very proud of her and the fact that she qualified for the Masters at her age, speaks volume about her. I am told she was the youngest player at the tournament," he said.

Although, she finished seventh, Kelebeng said she did well as she made her debut at the Masters Tournament, adding that the nation should expect more from her in future.

On other issues, Kelebeng noted that tennis was doing well and how they did their developmental programme showed seriousness.

For her part, Malak said representing the country in the Masters Tournament opened her eyes as she played against good players in Africa.

"Everyone was fighting and you could tell by the fact that we came out of the court sweating, and I think the part that was more challenging is that it was hot in Tunisia," she said.

Going forward, Malak said she and coach Phenyo Matong, would work on few shortcomings such as preparing herself mentally before matches, as she had observed that she always failed to apply herself in the first set. ENDS

BOPA

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