Tennis - Laporte and Kante take top awards |12 January 2016

Seychelles’ most promising male tennis player Damien Laporte has once again been named the top tennis player after another great year 2015 during which he achieved some fantastic results, while Fatime Kante is the female player of the year.

Laporte, 13, was the winner of most of the local tournaments organised in 2015, winning the Kia Motors legs 1, 2, 4 and 5 before capping off a great year with victory in the Kia Motors Masters. He also won the Damienne Morel Challenge.

Damien Laporte joined forces with Shaun Andriamaro to twice win the boys’ U14 doubles of both the first and second ITF/CAT (International Tennis Federation/Confederation of African Tennis) U12/U14 tournaments played at the centre national de tennis de Petit Camp, in Mauritius.

They twice beat the Mauritian duo of Kevan Appasamy and Christopher Fok Kow 2-0 (6-1, 6-1) and 2-0 (6-3, 6-3) in the finals.

Laporte also won the boys’ U14 singles of the first tournament by defeating Mauritian Christopher Fok Kow 2-0 (6-2, 7-5), but lost the second final to the same opponent on a 1-2 (2-6, 6-2, 4-6) score.

Meanwhile, the two young players failed to make the top-10 in Africa in their age groups at the 38th African Junior Championships held at the Marsa Tennis Club in Tunis, Tunisia,

Laporte finished 13th out of 32 players in the singles event at the 38th African Junior Championships held at the Marsa Tennis Club in Tunis, Tunisia. It was organised by the International Tennis Federation and the Confederation of African Tennis. In the doubles, he teamed up with Andriamaro to beat Namibia 2-0 (6-3, 6-2) and then lost in the quarterfinals against Ivory Coast.

The runner-up for the best player award is the more experienced Stefan Romain.

Fatime Kante has been chosen as the female player of the year after claiming wins in four of the five legs of the Kia Motors tournament. She also went on to win the Kia Motors Masters at the end of the year.

Kante did not take part in any international events in 2015.

Sarah Rene is the second best female tennis player for the year 2015.

S. N.