Thursday, May 12, 2011

12 May 2011: MALEZI MEETS STRONG OPPOSITION IN MILLFIELD

The Virgin Atlantic Sadili Tour 2011 reach its peak today, after a series of wins at three events of school meets, with Kenya’s defending tennis champions, Malezi School, today met their match at Millfield School, where they played their national counterparts in both doubles and singles for the first round of a two-day series, which was played to Millfield’s very well maintained grass courts.
Amadi Kagoma (Number 1) lost both his singles to player 1 and player 3 of Millfied,  (6-1) and  (6-1) respectively. Richard Ooko Onyango (Number 2) also lost both his singles to  player 2 (6-0) and player 5 (6-2). Jamin Luvembe won his first singles against player 3 (6-0), but lost his second singles to 2-6 to player 4 of Millfield. Henry Ayesiga held his own, winning both his singles 6-0 and 6-3 to give Malezi much needed points. In the doubles, Amadi/Luvembe won against Millfield’s first pair 6-4 in a very closely contested match, before an enthusiastic tennis players and coaches. The final scores in matches were 6 – 4 to Millfield. International professional, Dr. Liz Odera, who accompanied the team commented, "this is the level of challenge that we must constantly seek to build our team, I am confident that, after playing on grass against some of the best juniors in England, we can only get better."
Matchplay continues tomorrow, Friday, on hard court, where Malezi hopes to gain the advantage, should the weather hold. Millfield remains the only team to seriously challenge Malezi on this Virgin Atlantic-sponsored tour. Malezi Boys, who has successfully won against Oundle, Haileybury and Wess Cathedral Schools with relative ease, and is seeking to begin her campaign for yet another national boys’ title in July 2011.

Monday, May 9, 2011

9 May 2011: Malezi Boys Sail Through While Girls Meet Tough Opposition at Haileybury

Amadi Kagoma
Malezi School boys blanked out Haileybury today with a 9 - 1 win total in both singles and doubles, while the girls were no contest, losing both doubles matches 0-2 in what was bravely fought but totally overwhelmed situations. The Malezi Boys team, comprising of Amadi Kagoma, Euan Nesbitt, Jamin Luvembe, Richard Onyango and Henry Ayesiga, made short work of their opponents in both singles and doubles, while, David Nesbitt improved, just dropping one game to lose a tight match against number 5 Hailbury players in singles.  Portia Morey (Hillcrest) and partner Lornah Bhweje (Malezi) were unable to stop their competition, while youthful Emily Stonewigg/Georgia Taylor worked hard and fough bravely before succumbing to older and stronger opposition from Haileybury.
Malezi School, who are national schools champions for the last 9 years, joined forces with players from Banda and school and Hillcrest Secondary who train under the Sadili Oval sports academy banner, to offer well needed experience to 10 upcoming talented juniors in tennis, with the support of Virgin Atlantic Airways and various schools in the UK.
The Banda and Hillcrest players will be returning to Kenya tomorrow, while the Malezi boys will travel on to Millfield School in Somerset, where they are expected to train and play against the top juniors there for the next three days.

8 May 2011: Malezi In Early Lead In Tour

Captain Amadi Kagoma
Malezi School grabbed an early lead in the Virgin Atlantic Sadili Emerging Players Tour 2011 today, by blanking Oundle School 7 - 4 in a well contested meet that saw the boys take 3 out of 4 singles and 2 out of 3 doubles, while the girls won 1 out of two singles and 1 out of two doubles. The Malezi Boys team, comprising of Amadi Kagoma, Euan Nesbitt, Jamin Luvembe, Richard Onyango and Henry Ayesiga, made short work of their opponents in both singles and doubles, with newcomer, David Nesbitt fighting hard to stay in the game against a more experienced opposition.

David Nesbitt

Malezi School, who are national schools champions for the last 9 years, joined forces with players from Banda and school and Hillcrest Secondary who train under the Sadili Oval sports academy banner, to offer well needed experience to 10 upcoming talented juniors in tennis. The team's youngest players, Emily Stonewigg and Georgia Taylor (Banda), braved strong opporsition to win one match and lose the other, showing technical strength that should help them compete effectively in the IAPS Tennis competitions this term in Kenya. Long serving member of Sadili and team member of Hillcrest Secondary's International Schools league winning pair, Portia Morey, won her number one singles matches proving her strength mental and technical strength in the game.