Lumeta named tennis player of the week in US
Malawi’s lawn tennis export Chisomo Lumeta last weekend emerged as player of the week for National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in the United States of America (USA) following his success in the NJCAA Lawn Tennis National Championship.
He triumphed 6-1, 6-4 against ASA Miami’s Eric Ahren Moonga in the singles finals to help Seminole State College (SSC) men’s tennis team finish as NJCAA overall runners-up in the 10-team event. In the doubles contest, he paired with Innocent Tidimane to lose 6-1, 6-1 in the semi-finals to Gabriel Evans and Bruno Juarez.
The official athletics website of SSC wrote on Sunday: “Chisomo Lumeta was the next singles player to claim a title, as he also beat a player from ASA Miami 6-1, 6-4 to win the Flight #4 singles title.
“In total, Seminole won five of the nine draws in the tournament, and narrowly lost the overall championship by only two points. The finish is the highest ever national finish by any Seminole State tennis team in history.”
This is the second time the 17-year-old, who graduated from the High Performance Centre in Morocco, has won the accolade as he achieved a similar feat in April.
The Nedbank (Malawi) Limited brand ambassador told The Nation yesterday: “I am proud of this achievement and I will do my best to keep up the good work. Many thanks to Malawi National Council of Sports [MNCS], Nedbank, my team-mates, family, coaches and my girlfriend for their support.”
Lawn Tennis Association of Malawi (Ltam) general secretary Stan Kaunda described Lumeta’s achievements as something that is putting the country on the map.
Before going to Seminole State, Lumeta was a top junior player in the world as he rose to 309 on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) rankings. He won several Junior ITF tournaments before going to Seminole and has helped the SSC to an overall men’s ranking of number two in NJCAA.
Lumeta made a name in the sport in 2009 when he got his first lawn tennis scholarship following his triumph during the Southern Africa Junior Circuit Championship in South Africa. Then, he won two gold medals in three events. n
