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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
THE Bulawayo province tennis team put up a spirited performance to edge arch-rivals Harare at the one-week annual Tennis Zimbabwe Inter-Provincial Championships held at Bulawayo Athletic Club.

The tennis tournament ended on Sunday, with future Zimbabwe tennis stars battling it out in three different age groups, the Under -12, Under -14 and Under-18 boys’ and girls’ events.

Competition took place in the singles and doubles matches, with a win guaranteeing points for the represented province.

Midlands was the only other province to send a team.

Defending champions Harare failed to defend their title as Bulawayo used a combination of home advantage and quality tennis to wrest the title.

Team Bulawayo head coach, Khumbulani Tembo, was impressed with his players.

“We are very happy with the performance, the players gave their best especially our U18 team. Our strongest opponents were Harare who were the defending champions but we managed to hold our own against them, which is impressive,” said Tembo.

Tournament director Tarwirwa Chikunichawa hailed the level of competition at this year’s edition.

“The competition was great and I am more than impressed with what l have seen.

“As Bulawayo, we were hosting the tournament for the first time and I’m sure we gave a good account of ourselves.

“We hope to have more provinces coming on board to improve the level of competition and growth of the game in the country,” said Chikunichiwa.

Some of Zimbabwe’s future tennis stars that took part in the tournament are Mehluli Sibanda, Ethan Sibanda and Mengezi Sibanda.