Nyasha in first round win, faces second seed

New Zimbabwe

2 September 

Zimbabwe’s wheelchair tennis ace Nyasha Mharakurwa eased into the second round at the London Paralympics Games on Saturday with a 6-4; 6-3 victory over Switzerland’s Yann Avanthey.

The 29-year-old, playing at his first Paralympic Games, will face number two seed Shingo Kunieda of Japan in the second round later Sunday.

With the tickets for the games sold out, Mharakurwa has been interacting with Zimbabweans on Twitter and Facebook where he has found himself notable supporters including Sports Minister David Coltart and Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Senegal Trudy Stevenson.

After his routine victory over Avanthey on Saturday evening, Coltart wrote on his wall: “Kunieda may be world number 2 Nyasha, but you have the whole of Zimbabwe rooting for you. Good luck – go do us proud, as indeed you already have.”

Mharakuwa admitted facing the Japanese star would be “tough”, but added: “That is what we are here for!”

Zimbabwe sent two athletes to the Paralympic Games – Mharakuwa and 39-year-old sprinter Elliot Mujaji.

Mujaji won gold in the 100m at the Sydney games in 2000 and Athens in 2004, but finished outside the medals at the Beijing games in 2008.