South Africa-based tennis youngster Chisomo Lumeta has slumped on Confederation of Africa Tennis rankings by 10 places after dropping from position six to 16.

But Lumeta said he has dropped because he had been inactive for the past two months.

The 14-year Malawi tennis gem was hopeful that his ranking would rise after this year's Africa Junior Championship at the end of this month in Egypt.

"I have been idle of late," he said. "I am not despairing because I know that at the end of the event I will rise again."

According to the rankings which were released on March 30, Burundian Saidi Nkurunziza has maintained the number one sport for the third successive time.

Lumeta has qualified for the first final after defeating another Burundian and was expected to face either South African Calvin Jordaan or Egyptian Mohamed Aboulkassen, who were battling in another semifinal.

Lumeta was on bye during round one games and he appeared on the scene when he beat Ghanaian Marcel Agbegne 6-3 6-2 in the second round.

In quarterfinals, Lumeta overpowered Egyptian Sherif Makhlouf 6-3 6-4.

According to ITF website, the African Junior Championships is taking place at Al-Solimaneyah City, Giza in Egypt.

The tournament, which offers competition in two age categories, Under-14 and 16, has attracted entries from 61 boys and 57 girls from 27 nations.

ITF also offers feed-in consolation events from which players have the opportunity to play singles matches every day, giving them vital competition ahead of their continent's most prestigious junior tennis event.

Players qualified by taking part in one of three zonal championships which took place in January and February in West and Central Africa, Southern Africa and East Africa.

Both events are being hosted by the Egyptian Tennis Federation in collaboration with the ITF and the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT).

Lumeta qualified for the event after winning the gold medal during the Southern Africa qualifying tournament staged in Namibia three months ago.

Lawn Tennis Association of Malawi (LTAM) president Duncan Gumbi told our sister paper The Daily Times that the association was encouraged by Lumeta's performance.

"The report which we got from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) is self explanatory," he said. "It shows that Chisomo is a gem and has been consistent.

"We are now assured that he will at least grab a silver medal but it is our hope that he should win a gold medal.

"It is not easy to win a medal at the African Championship but Chisomo has shown that he has the potential to excel at the highest level."