Pretoria, South Africa – Last week Friday while playing the role of Chief of Umpires at the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas South Africa vs Luxembourg tie in Pretoria, Tennis South Africa’s Mpho Makhoba was awarded Technical Official of the Year (amongst all sports) at the Gauteng School Sports Awards. The awards were held at a glitzy event in Boksburg.
Makhoba in 2015 was awarded International Umpire Silver Status in Morocco where she was one of only two participants, and the only woman. It was the first time a Silver Status had been awarded as a joint certification of the WTA, ITF and ATP. Makhoba became the first female official to receive an international qualification under the joint certification programme run by ITF incorporating the ATP and WTA.
Mpho is now the fourth South African female official to achieve an international Chief of Umpires qualification, former officials were Nelly Garvin, Louis Hartman and June Dunk (early 1990’s).