ASTANA, Kazakhstan, May 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — For the first time in the country’s history, the Kazakhstan Junior Boys and Girls Tennis Teams made it to the 16 and under World Championship Finals. The finals will be held in the Autumn in Cordoba, Spain, where the girls will compete in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup and the boys in the Junior Davis Cup.
The Asia Oceania Qualifying events were held in Kazakhstan for the first time in the Beeline Tennis Center in Shymkent. The boys and girls teams performed exceptionally against some very strong tennis nations. The girls team first beat Chinese Taipei in the quarter finals and followed this with a milestone win against Australia, five-time Junior Billie Jean King champions. The team lost only to Japan 2-1 in a hard-fought final match decided by the doubles. The Kazakh boys team fought their way through a tough group beating Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, and New Zealand to qualify for the quarter finals where they beat six-time champions, Australia, 2-0 to qualify for the World Finals.
Bulat Utemuratov, President of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, congratulated the teams:
“Congratulations to our boys and girls and to the captains for making it to the World finals of these flagship ITF junior team events for the first time. This is an incredible achievement, reflecting on all of the hard work of our young players and their coaches and the KTF player development team”. Bulat Utemuratov also noted; “This success of the junior national teams, shows how much the level of tennis has improved and provides the motivation for KTF to continue investing in the development of tennis in Kazakhstan. It inspires our younger players to keep practicing and striving for international success”.
The up-and-coming stars on Kazakhstan’s girls junior team were Ariana Gogulina, Polina Sleptsova, and Anastasia Krymkova. The boys team included Amir Omarkhanov, Zangar Nurlanuly, and Damir Zhalgasbay. The captains of the teams were Yaroslava Shvedova, former Grand Slam Champion, and top coach Sergey Kvak. The National Teams to participate in the World Championship Finals will be announced by KTF in September.
The Junior Billie Jean King Cup and the Junior Davis Cup, organized annually by the International Tennis Federation, are the most important international team competitions for tennis players aged 16 and under.
