African Junior Tennis Championship - Damien Laporte, the African king |19 March 2016

Damien Laporte is the king of Africa in the boys’ under-14 age category after triumphing in the final of the 39th ITF/CAT African Junior Championships in Pretoria, South Africa.

In his quest for the title and to become the African under-14 king, Laporte was up against Nigerian Michael Osewa in yesterday’s boys’ singles final at the University of Pretoria High Performance Centre in Pretoria and he won quite convincingly on a 2-0 (7-5, 6-4) score.

With the win, Laporte, the first Seychellois to reach an African Junior Championships final, is now ranked number one in Africa in the under-14 age category.

Reached by telephone yesterday minutes after his win and asked by Sports Nation to comment on his triumph, Laporte said: “I just can’t imagine it.”

“It was my goal for this year to win the under-14 singles title at the ITF/CAT African Junior Championships and I tried to go as far as I could. And I’ve done even better. When I passed the group stage, I knew I stood a chance of winning the title, but there were many obstacles along the way,” Laporte told Sports Nation.

“The winning feeling is going and it has not sunk in yet that I am the African under-14 champion and number one. It’s hard to describe how I am feeling now,” added Laporte who gave himself a nice and early 14th birthday present. He will turn 14 on April 6.

Laporte would like to thank all the coaches – Tim Horpinitch, Frederic Canale, Sheryl Youpa – with whom he has worked, but had a special thank you for Nicko (a coach from Tanzania) who gave him a lot of tips during the championship and was present during all his games.

He now has his eyes set on Europe as he will be taking part in European tours.

“It’s going to be tough, but I will be going back to the court to train harder and play hard,” said Laporte who twice beat South African number one Kololwane Montsi in the tournament.

In fact, Laporte was never intimated in the semifinal against Montsi as he captured a 2-0 (6-4, 6-3) victory to make it to the final against Nigerian Osewa.

Laporte was to team up with Kenyan Ryan Randiek to play the under-14 boys’ doubles semifinals but forfeited the match after his partner picked up an injury.

Meanwhile, Seychelles was represented in the under-16 boys’ singles category by Shaun Andriamaro who won just one of his group matches.

The two Seychellois players qualified for the Pretoria rendez-vous after finishing among the top six players in the boys’ under-16 and under-14 categories at the 2016 East African Junior Tennis Championship played at the Nairobi Club, Kenya.

Laporte was the country’s top player at the tournament as he teamed up with Theo Barois to win the under-14 boys’ doubles gold medal, but he lost the under-14 boys’ singles final to settle for a silver medal.

As for Andriamaro he was ranked sixth in the under-16 boys’ singles category.

Scheduled to arrive home last night, they are expected back tomorrow after they had to change their flight due to the delay in the championship caused by constant heavy rains.

Coach Youpa and Damien’s father, Mervyn Laporte, accompanied the two players to Pretoria.

The tournament featured at least 120 players from more than 28 African countries. This year’s African Junior Championship took on a new format with an extensive round-robin stage followed by play-offs.

The countries who took part are South Africa, Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Morocco, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

G. G.