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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
THE annual Girls College (GC) Tennis League will kick off next week after organisers secured sponsorship from sporting equipment supplier TDK Sports Direct.

Nine teams that include Girls College, ZRP Bulawayo, Support Unit Fairbridge, Falcon College, Zesa, Whitestone, Bulawayo Polytechnic College, Insurance Institute of Bulawayo and Nust have confirmed their participation in the fifth edition of the league.

Former Bulawayo Tennis Board chairman Adam Joelson, whose company has partnered GC Tennis League, said registration is still in progress at Girls College and the TDK Sports Direct shop at the Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC).

The competition will run for eight weeks, ending on the first weekend of December.

“The GC Tennis League’s objective is to resuscitate clubs’ tennis competition in Bulawayo.

“It is for this reason that TDK Sports Direct has decided to come on board by providing equipment to be used for the duration of the competition as well as prizes at the end of the matches,” said Joelson.

“The format of the competition will see a team being made up of four players, two singles and one doubles to make an encounter.

Clubs or institutions can register as many teams as they can because we want to see lots of tennis matches being played.”

He said most of the games will be played at Girls College and BAC, but if teams have their preferred venues, matches will be moved there.

Joelson said the GC Tennis League will have two tiers, the top one for players who are still competitive and the other for those playing socially.

School going players will be allowed to participate in the top tier league for exposure purposes.

Some of the notable players expected to participate in the league include Nust’s Thesly Mufunda, Nkanyiso Sibanda, who will lead the Zesa team, ZRP Bulawayo’s Martin Gwaronda, Eliot Ganyani (Support Unit Fairbridge), Zenzo Ndlovu (Whitestone) and former Hockey Association of Zimbabwe president Kays Kanyangarara.