Botswana is slowly positioning itself as the new giant of Africa in sport. Across sporting codes, several names have become entrenched in people’s minds both at home and abroad. In
athletics, Letsile Tebogo and Collen Kebinatshipi have become much loved icons, whereas in football Sedilame Bosija and Refilwe Tholakele have similarly endeared themselves to the nation.
In swimming, upcoming star, Jade Chilisa has thrown the code into the mix, putting it on a pedestal with her top-tier performance.
Now, tennis has taken centre stage. The code’ showstopper,
Ntungamili Raguin is constantly distinguishing himself as a
crème de la crème of the sport.
He is the man of firsts: the first Motswana to compete at the
Australian Junior Open and first to win J100 back-to-back.
Prior to the Australian Junior Open, Raguin who was ranked
75 but he now sits at Number 56 in the world.
And just last year, he ranked among the top 250, a feat
many paid little att enti on to despite efforts by the
Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) to draw attention to the possibility of Botswana clinching a junior Grand Slam.
Where Raguin is now requires concerted efforts and support from stakeholders including national sport agencies, government and corporates and indeed, the nation.
He will require more resources in order to sustain these performances, given that he has three more junior Grand Slams this year; Wimbledon, French Open
and US Open.
In between, he will play other bigger tournaments such as J300 and J500, all of which will require substantial budgets.
But, what does this feat mean to the country? According to BTA vice president, Nonofo Othusitse, Raguin’s incredible run at the 2026 Australian Open Junior Championships was a source of immense pride.
“We were over the moon when we made it out of the qualifying draw into the main draw,” Othusitse said, highlighting how historic a performance it was for a player who was making a maiden appearance at a Grand Slam.
Raguin simply defied the odds, exceeding all expectations in the process and the BTA could not be more elated.
“To fully comprehend this performance, one needs to go
back to last year December when he was ranked 168 in the world,” Othusitse said.
“During the Australian OpenJunior week he reached a career
high ranking of 75. Now, he is at 56 aft er the new rankings were released on Monday,” he added.
Further rallying the nation to throw its entire weight behind
the player, Othusitse believed that adequate support would spur Raguin on to keep raising the bar
higher.
While BTA appreciates the support they received from Botswana National Sports Commission and
Botswana National Olympic Committee through their programmes, more money is still required and according to Othusitse at least a million Pula a year in funding
would suffice.
“All in all, it looks like it is going to be an exciting year for Raguin and indeed Botswana tennis. We are grateful for the support he has received thus far and hope it continues into the future,” he said
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