14 graduate from tennis course, Lesotho chess moves up world rankings

Fun at the national tennis courts in Maseru...

14 attendants have progressed from the Lesotho Lawn Tennis Association (LLTA) technical training course that was held last month.

The course was funded by the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) as part of its pre-preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Over 30 participants began the course which was supervised by International Tennis Federation representative Riaan Krujer and had two levels – a Play and Stay phase and a Level 1 stage.

The Play and Stay phase was an introductory course from which the top 24 participants progressed to the Level 1 phase.

The final 14 graduates comprise tennis players and teachers from different schools around Maseru. The plan now is that they will impart their knowledge by coaching tennis at schools in different regions of the country.

The course was part of efforts by the LTTA and LNOC to improve tennis in Lesotho by increasing the number of skilled and qualified coaches. After completing the two-week course participants went home with certificates of attendance.

To chess and Lesotho has moved up two places, from 172nd to 170th, in the latest World Chess Federation rankings. The world chess rankings are calculated using the average rating of a country’s top ten players and Lesotho has achieved its improved rankings due to the increase in the international ratings of local players.

All in all, Lesotho now has 37 active chess players with the country’s top ranked player being Kananelo Latela.

Lesotho started playing professional chess in 2012 but has made steady progress since then with the sport seeing a rise in tournaments and participants across the country.