BTA Hails Malak Move to Tunisia

Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) vice president has lauded Malak Macheng’s move to Tunisia to join the African Regional Training Centre (ARTC) as a milestone achievement for the young athlete.
“This is obviously a great opportunity for Malak,” said the BTA vice president, Nonofo Othusitse in an interview.
Othusitse noted that the scholarship was part of a prestigious International Tennis Federation (ITF) initiative.
“We understand that the centre can only take 16 players, eight boys and eight girls, so to make the cut was not easy, as admission was based on both ITF and CAT rankings,” he added.
Again, he said the one-year scholarship placed Malak in a high-performance environment designed to bridge the gap between continental talent and international standards. At the Sousse-based facility, Malak will benefit from integrated sport science which entailed all-around access to Sports Medicine services and professional expertise. She will also benefit from Comprehensive Development, which is a curriculum that balanced elite training and high-level competition with off-court personal growth.
She will further have academic rigor, which is a mandatory requirement to maintain an acceptable level of academic performance alongside her athletic commitments.
Malak’s mother, Bonnie Macheng, accompanied her daughter for the transition and confirmed in an interview their arrival in Sousse on Tuesday.
After an initial tour of the grounds, she noted that the facilities were user-friendly and well-equipped for elite athletes.
By Wednesday, Malak had already begun her integration, meeting with her new fitness and conditioning coach to outline her training schedule for the year.
The exclusivity of Malak’s opportunity has highlighted a gap the BTA is eager to close. Othusitse explained that the limited spots at the ARTC had spurred the association to seek a local solution.
“The BTA is currently in the process of setting up a National Training Centre (NTC) and we have made the necessary applications to the ITF,” he said.
He noted that a domestic NTC would allow Botswana to provide a larger number of athletes with the same high-performance training, sports science and medical expertise that Malak was currently accessing in Tunisia.