South African Breweries (SAB) donated wheelchair tennis equipment worth R100 000 to one of the Wheelchair Tennis South Africa (WTSA) development centres – Elandsdoorn, a town in the Sekhukhune District Municipality in Limpopo. The equipment includes wheelchair spares, tyres and tubes, tennis balls, grips, strings or restringing, and tennis racquets.
It will richly benefit more than eight development centres in the region, including Elandsdoorn, Bakwethu and Egodeni. The Far North Region wheelchair tennis programme started with the inception of the sport in South Africa about 13 years ago. This particular programme has produced champions like Dennilton’s Danny Mohlamonyane who represented South Africa at the World Team Cups and has played at a higher level on the international circuit.
The region also boasts Kgothatso Montjane, who is currently ranked number six in the world in the women’s division and has represented South Africa at three Paralympic Games and reached the Wimbledon semifinals. Other players include Evans Maripa, a former world men’s player ranked number 11, and former professional player Sydwell Mathonsi.
At the handover of the equipment, which will continue to nurture the development of the sport, Josaya Moima, a coach at the centre, expressed his commitment to growing the sport and the important role the donation will play in achieving this.
“I love working with these athletes and I will keep at it until we have a top ten world-ranked player from one of these centres in Dennilton,” Moima said.
“Our dream is to create the ideal company in Africa, one that makes a real difference in society,” commented Zanele Mphuthi, SAB stakeholder and licensing specialist.
According to Karen Losch, GM for WTSA, donations play a huge role in providing the necessary support to effectively offer sustainable programmes in disadvantaged communities.
“Our goal has always been to reach out to people with disabilities with the focus heavily biased towards previously disadvantaged areas. We provide equipment, empower coaches and pay tournament entry fees, but we simply do not have enough resources and equipment for each and every player. So these donations play a huge part in enabling us to keep these programmes running successfully. We are very thankful for the support,” Losch concluded.
