Junior tennis coach Edward Odocken has always organized events for youngsters at various venues under the Let’s Play Tennis Uganda (LPTU) academy.
The third edition of the Let’s Play Tennis Uganda Junior Open held over the weekend at East Kololo Primary School tennis courts, is one of the events he (Odocken) and his team have organized in the post-lockdown age as youngsters seek to grow in the game.
The weekend showpiece played on a tiebreak format attracted 45 participants from four academies, that is; Let’s Play Tennis Uganda, Tennis For All Uganda, Sporting Chance and Prodigy Academy. Individual players were also in the mix.
After a good display by the budding tennis stars at the Open, Odocken is a happy man but hopes to follow up the athletes so that they grow with the right mindset and scrolls of the game.
“I’m very delighted with how juniors were playing. Kids were enjoying the matches because we are teaching them to become self independent through this tournaments. We also monitor their progress because they are our next generation for ITF competitions,” Odocken, also national junior Coach said.
On court, participants were split into three categories, that is; Red Intermediate (learning stage, that is from 5 to 8 years), Red Advanced (8 to 10 years) and Orange (12-14 years).
In the girls red advanced pool, Nicol Namukasa beat Ruth kisakye 6-0 in the final while Okello Samuel beat Marvin Chebet 6-3 in the boys red advanced pool.
In the girls red intermediate pool,
Afoyorwot Rihanna beat Amanda sseyomo 6-3 while Arafat muzamiru beat osukutu Elijah 6-2 in the boys red intermediate pool.
In the orange court, Steacy Namirembe beat Jill Torres 10-5 in the girls final while Latif Abdul beat malwaya Nicolas 10-2 in the boys final.
In January this year, Odocken and his team organized the Ghetto Mini Junior Tournament that attracted 22 players. It was the first junior showpiece of the year and now going forward.
Going forward, Odocken and his team are eager to organize more junior engagements in line with Covid-19 preventive measures to curb the possible spread of the pandemic that forced sport to grind to a halt early last year.
On national level, Odocken will be sharpening players for the Fed Cup due in Lithuania in early June this year.
