the Zimbabwe Open tournament get Futures’ status.
The move is expected to open more opportunities for local players and is likely to attract more foreign players as they will, not only be getting prize money but also, get international ranking points.
TZ vice-president, Regis Bhunu confirmed the development and said they had been asked to stage two tournaments to attract more foreign players.
“We were given an indication that we can have the Futures’ event but we were asked to run two tournaments.
“What we are basically saying is that it is most attractive to have two tournaments so that when players come they won’t be playing in a single tournament,” said Bhunu.
Bhunu said they were now working on getting a sponsor for the other tournament after NetOne agreed to sponsor the Zimbabwe Open tournament.
“NetOne have said they are ready to sponsor one tournament and we are still finalising with the other sponsor to get money to host the other one.
“There is one sponsor whom we talked to and they are quite keen. They have asked us to make a presentation and see if they can squeeze us in for this year’s event and they have said they are definitely in for next year’s tournament. By end of this week we will know if they are coming in or not and if all goes well we will have the tournament in November after the exams,” said Bhunu.
The TZ vice-president said the tournaments would open opportunities for local players to break through onto the international scene.
“At the moment if we have those tournaments it means creating opportunities for our players because being the host country we will have wild cards which means we will have more players playing.
“A Futures’ tournament will also attract players from all over the world because people view Africa as a hunting ground for points,” said Bhunu.
Bhunu said the tournaments will be held one after the other and ITF have said they are ready to assist the association to host the tournaments.
The national association needs about US$18 000 for each of the tournaments.

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