• Sport

Namibia improves at BJK Cup as Morocco gets promoted

• 12 Hours Ago

The Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup wrapped up its Africa Group Three matches on Saturday at Olympia’s Central Tennis Courts in Windhoek, marking Namibia’s first time hosting the event.

The tournament, considered the World Cup of women’s tennis and the largest annual international competition in women’s sport, began last Monday and featured 12 nations, with Morocco dominating throughout.

The format featured a two-stage round robin: the first stage comprised three pools of four teams, followed by playoffs with four pools of three teams to determine final placings and promotion. The winner earned a place in Europe/Africa Group Two next year, while the last-placed team was relegated to Africa Group Four.



Flawless victories

Morocco opened their campaign drawn in Pool A, where they won all their ties 3-0, not dropping a single match against hosts Namibia, Burundi and Madagascar, to reach the promotion playoff group.

That group included Botswana, which also advanced without conceding a set and Kenya, whose only dropped set came against Zimbabwe.

In the promotional playoffs, Morocco first took on Botswana, clinching a comfortable 3-0 victory, the same scoreline Botswana had earlier suffered against Kenya.



All-time high stakes

Both Morocco and Kenya entered the promotion decider unbeaten in the playoffs, setting up a high-stakes showdown.

Both coaches played their cards close to their chests, especially when it came to sharing their pre-match thoughts or revealing the players they were going to field.

The first singles match saw Morocco field their number two player Malak El Allami to take on Kenya’s Melissa Nanjala Mwakha. Morocco won the match 6-4, 6-3.

In the battle of the top seeds in the second singles encounter, Morocco’s Yasmine Kabbaj suffered a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi.

Okutoyi was arguably the top-ranked player at the tournament, having become the first Kenyan to win a Grand Slam title when she lifted the Wimbledon girls’ doubles trophy in 2022.

With the tie level at 1-1, the doubles became the decider. In a tense match, Morocco’s El Allami and Diae El Jardi prevailed 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 over Okutoyi and Cynthia Wanjala to seal promotion.



Victory in tough weather conditions

In their post-match reflections, the Moroccan players were all smiles, embracing in a shoulder-to-shoulder huddle.

“It was so tough to secure the overall victory given the unforgiving windy conditions. We countered them by staying tough mentally. We are all very happy and proud to have won.

“We did it as a team together with the coaches and the physios. We were all backing one another. A big thank you to everyone who made this tournament possible, all the Namibian people for hosting us and to all our supporters on the sidelines and back at home,” they remarked in unison.



Improved performance

The Namibian team, led by captain Lesedi Jacobs, had mixed results in the tournament and was placed eighth overall.

Despite the setbacks, Jacobs underscored the silver lining of improved performance compared to last year, when the team finished tenth overall.

“I am so proud of the team and super excited that we are doing a lot better than last year,” she said.

Tournament final standings: 1 Morocco, 2 Kenya, 3 Botswana, 4 Zimbabwe, 5 Madagascar, 6 Nigeria, 7 Tunisia, 8 Namibia, 9 Ghana, 10 Algeria, 11 Burundi, 12 Uganda.

– mariud@nsh.com.na