Africa-Press – Angola. Angolan tennis player Daniel Domingos won, last Sunday, the title of champion of the U-16 Revelation Tournament, in men, by defeating the Portuguese Tomás Tocha, by 2-6, 6-0 and 10-6, in the competition held in Caldas da Rainha, Portuguese district of Leiria.
Daniel said it was difficult, as his opponent showed a good level, having dignified the final. The Kikuxi Villas Club (KVC) athlete who follows a professional and academic career at the Felner Academy, thanked the Angolan club for the opportunity.
“This new experience at the Felner Tennis Academy has been phenomenal, I have had a training routine that has contributed to my evolution. To the KVC management, my thanks for the opportunity. I have no words to express such gratitude”, he underlined.
The tennis player who has already represented the National Team in several African tournaments and competitions, considers that the title won is also the result of the work carried out by Felner’s coaches.
Another athlete who also represented Angola in the competition was Justino Rodrigues, 14, who despite being eliminated in the second round, spoke of the experience he has had with the scholarship provided by the KVC board.
Pedro Felner, owner of the academy, began by highlighting the quality of the two promises of Angolan tennis, although he recognizes that there is still a lot of work ahead.
“Both have the potential to make a career at the highest level, and I am confident that they can become the best Angolan players in the future”, he predicted.
Felner also spoke of the rapid integration since they arrived, at the beginning of last October, and the way they have interacted with colleagues on the courts as well as in the college where they do their academic training in parallel.
“In this highly responsible training process, I believe that the partnership with KVC will be important for the development of the sport in Angola”, he said, anticipating the arrival of other talents.
“We continued to prospect in Angola”
The technical director of the Felner Tennis Academy, Filipe Rebelo, recalled the first time he had contact with the group of tennis players assigned to KVC, two years ago.
“We were surprised by their performance. It was our first experience with Angolan tennis players, and the partnership with the club has been cemented since then”, he highlighted.
Last August, the KVC board took a total of 11 athletes, of both sexes, to that center to undertake a pre-competitive stage and the investment is starting to bear fruit.
Speaking to JA, the technical director of the Viana club, João Almeida, guaranteed that the bet on new talents is here to stay and the objective is to expand the project to the whole country.
“Our project is ambitious and we continued to prospect in Angola. Regarding Danil and Justino, we were aware that they needed a higher level, although we recognize that their departure to Europe took place relatively late”, he admitted.
In the same tournament, the pair also won the gold medal in pairs. Almeida considers that both are the result of a strategic plan drawn up by KVC, the result of its commitment to improving the technical level of Angolan internationals, of both sexes.
The possibility of other tennis players heading to Felner Tennis Academy remains open, given the monitoring they have been targeting. KVC tennis players have represented in greater numbers the different national teams in African championships.
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