The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
RISING tennis ace, Ethan Sibanda is likely to miss out on his dream to reach the top 200 in international rankings as he struggles to get a passport to travel to events.
Sibanda rose to a career high of position 303 in the International Tennis Federation Rankings in January but has now dropped to 341, in rankings released on Monday, and is likely to drop further if he does not take part in more tournaments this year following the expiry of his passport in May 2020.
The Davis Cup team player had already applied for the passport in June 2019 but delays at the Registrar-General’s offices have seen him failing to get the travel document. Sibanda had registered for two ITF events in South Africa this month but could not travel as he did not have a passport.
The player’s father and coach, Tendai Sibanda said they were disappointed in missing the two tournaments and with uncertainty on when the passport he is likely to miss his target on the ITF rankings.
“We had been preparing to take part in South Africa and had registered as you saw in the acceptance sheet but he could not travel as his passport expired in May last year. We applied for it in 2019 hoping by the time it expires in May 2020, he would have the document but unfortunately it is not so.
His target was to reach the top 200 this year but I strongly doubt this is going to happen,” he said.
Tendai said it was unfortunate that despite representing the country in international tournaments, Ethan has not received any assistance in securing the passport.
He said as a national team player, they expected authorities to assist Ethan to secure the passport as it would enable him to increase his international profile and be well prepared in representing the country. In 2018, Sibanda played in five elite tournaments in Europe after excelling on the African continent.
