For Rehema Saidi, a 25-year-old Tanzanian college student, no hurdles can prevent her from fulfilling her long-time dream of becoming a worldwide superstar wheelchair tennis player.
DAR ES SALAAM, April 12 (Xinhua) -- For Rehema Saidi, a 25-year-old college student, no hurdles can prevent her from fulfilling her long-time dream of becoming a worldwide superstar wheelchair tennis player.
"I have steel determination to reach the heights of wheelchair tennis playing, including in the Paralympics Games, during my lifetime," said Rehema, a second-year student at the Institute of Social Work in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
Rehema started cultivating an interest in wheelchair tennis ten years ago.
Tanzanian wheelchair tennis player Rehema Saidi trains in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on April 9, 2022. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)
"I saw people playing tennis in wheelchairs when I was either going to or coming back from school, and I said I can also play wheelchair tennis," recalled Rehema, who has disabilities with both legs.
Last month, six Tanzanian female wheelchair tennis players participated in the 2022 BNP Paribas World Team Cup Qualification event in Turkey.
Tanzanian wheelchair tennis player Rehema Saidi (R) attends a training with her coach Riziki Salum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on April 9, 2022. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)
"Tanzania did not qualify but that did not lessen our determination to perform better in future qualification games," she said, adding that the qualification event attracted more than 30 countries from across the world.
She stated that she will not rest until she appears at the Paralympic Games.
Wheelchair tennis has been part of the Paralympic Games since 1992, and has been played at Grand Slams since 2007.
The ITF says wheelchair tennis is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, adding that the sport is played in the same manner as able-bodied tennis, with the only exception being that a wheelchair tennis player is allowed two bounces of the ball.
Riziki Salum, a Tanzania Wheelchair Tennis coach, told Xinhua that wheelchair tennis was introduced in Tanzania in 2005 by a trainer from the ITF.
Tanzanian wheelchair tennis player Rehema Saidi trains in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on April 9, 2022. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)
The 48-year-old said that many people were interested in taking up wheelchair tennis, but he could only train 20 of them due to various challenges.
"Up to this moment I am training 12 men and six women out of a total of 40 that I had trained initially," said Salum. Most of them dropped training because of challenges such as a lack of gear and transportation.
"I believe that if these players get the required support they can perform wonders in global competitions," he commented.
Salum said he also conducts wheelchair tennis training in various schools, including Jangwani Girls Secondary School and the Salvation Army Secondary School in Dar es Salaam and Pugu Secondary School in the Coast region.
"With heavy investment in wheelchair tennis, Tanzania stands to participate in the Paralympic Games in 2024," said the coach. ■
