The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S top seed Takanyi Garanganga’s bid to identify and nurture more tennis players got a huge boost yesterday when the Swiss Embassy in Harare partnered his Total Greatness International Foundation (TGI).
The United States-based Garanganga has sought to give back to tennis through the foundation which will also work together with Tennis Zimbabwe.
And Old Hararians Sports Club, which was the scene of the foundation’s launch, was a hive of activity as another event, albeit, social, — the ZimSwiss Open Diplomatic tennis tournament, was also unveiled and underlined cordial relations that exist between Zimbabwe and Switzerland.
Both Swiss Ambassador to Zimbabwe Niculin Jager and the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, Kirsty Conventry, were also on hand to lend their support before taking part in exhibition doubles matches.
Garanganga’s TGI is a non-profit organization with the purpose of promoting youth-centred development by equipping young people with life skills through tennis, education, empowerment and leadership initiatives.
Among its activities will be to introduce tennis to all parts of the country, work with Tennis Zimbabwe, and their coaches’ association, to organize regular nationwide tennis tournaments and competitions.
The goal will be to eventually set up squad training sessions aimed at establishing a national High Performance Centre.
“As a result of my tennis career, many parents have asked me if their kids can also do the things I have done.
“While I am grateful for the support from my parents, who sacrificed everything for my career, I found out that there was a need for the mobilisation of more financial resources from beyond the family to enable more rapid progress.
“This fact is true for all professional tennis players.
“Taking this into account, I decided to create a foundation that will galvanise the necessary resources and mentor kids from a young age and help them realise their potential.
“Creating a platform for these kids toeexpress themselves, through tennis, is something that can sustain Zimbabwe in the future,” Garanganga said.
Ambassador Jager described the double launch as a huge success in the history of the two nations.
“Sport is without borders. Sport has played, and continues to play a significant role in diplomacy, state-to-state relations and in promoting peace and the values of tolerance.
“Sport is also about friendship. Zimbabwe and Switzerland continue to enjoy cordial bilateral relations and this tournament is also about celebrating 42 years of our great friendship,” Jager said.
The Swiss Ambassador said his embassy had chipped in with seed capital for the TGI initiative.
“Takanyi is still active and pursuing his professional career, but decided to give back to Zimbabwe with wonderful energy, passion and professionalism.
“Takanyi’s ambition of setting up a national High Performance Centre promises additional opportunities for young talent in Zimbabwe to maximise their potential and enable them to compete internationally.
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“My embassy has assumed an initial patronage role to the initiative by providing the seed funding that has enabled the TGI tournament to take off.
“It still requires additional support, and I believe that everyone has an opportunity to invest in the next generation of tennis in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The efforts of the Swiss Embassy, and those of the country’s top Davis Cup player were applauded by Coventry, who was the event’s guest of honour.
“My ministry shares the same sentiment with the Embassy of Switzerland, and Total Greatness Initiative, that investing in tennis as a professional and influential sport provides a good opportunity to directly impact the lives of young people and help build sustainable programmes to which young Zimbabweans can aspire.
“I am reliably informed that the Swiss Open Diplomatic Tennis Tournament’s partnership with TGI aims to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, from the 10 provinces of Zimbabwe, to become professional tennis players and aspire for a better future.
“Such programmes will feed into our NDS1 (National Development Strategy 1) projects and will have a positive outcome,” Coventry said.
To seal the deal, both dignitaries took part in an exhibition tennis match.
The ambassador partnered Garanganga, while Coventry took to the court alongside one of the first TGI beneficiaries Crispen Kapangura.
Swiss tennis legend and World Number eight Roger Federer might not have been physically present at Old Hararians but his global influence on the sport was felt at the venue.
There was an interesting prize draw for Federer’s memorabilia.
Federer also runs a multi-million dollar foundation for children in South Africa where his mother Lynette hails from.
Lynette Federer is from Kempton Park in Johannesburg.
