Kenya's Wanjiru elected Vice President of African tennis body

Tennis Kenya Secretary General Wanjiru Mbugua Karani has been elected the Eastern Africa (Zone IV) President and automatically becomes one of Vice Presidents of Confederation of African Tennis (CAT). 

Wanjiru, who is Team Kenya for Paris 2024 Olympic Games Chief Executive Officer, garnered six votes against five of Mahamoud Zayya from Comoros in the second round of voting.

Both candidates tied on five votes after the first round of voting with one vote being marked as spoilt.

Wanjiru, a retired Kenya Team player and captain, takes over from Kenya’s Patrick Gichira, who did not seek re-election after serving for 12 years as Zone IV president and CAT vice president.

“It’s an honour to be elected as the Eastern Africa president and the vice president of CAT. I will serve my national federation, Eastern Africa and the continent to the best of my ability to see our sport grow,” said Wanjiru after winning the elections overseen by International Tennis Federation (ITF) president David Haggerty.

Zone IV consists of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Comoros.

Benin's Jean Claude Talon won the presidential seat after amassing 25-12 votes in second round against Botswana's Nelson Amanze.

The first round was tightly contested, with Talon bagging 16 votes followed by Nelson Amanze from Botswana (12) and Senegalese Issa Mboup who got nine.

Talon, who is the brother to Benin President Patrice Guillaume Athanase Talon, takes over the reigns from Tunisian Tarak Cherif who has been in charge for 20 years.

The elective CAT Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Friday in Nairobi and brought together 38 delegates from 54-member countries.