Tennis Coach Appeals for Sponsorship

Mr. David Churcher, coach of the National Tennis Team has appealed to individuals and corporate organisations to come to the aid of the national tennis team.

"Our national players rely on their parents for the tournaments they engage in and if the efforts of their parents would be complemented by companies and other tennis loving individuals, these boys can make the nation proud." Mr. Churcher told GNA Sports in an interview.

He said, the two top seeds, Gunther Darkey and Henry Adjei-Darko would take part in another tournament in Nigeria, but might not be able to play in other competitions outside the continent due to lack of funds.

Mr. Churhcer said these players need to play in more competitions in order to increase their points and improve upon their ranking at the international level.

The coach said in spite of the huge financial constraints on their

players, their performance at the recent International Tennis Federation (ITF) Mens West Africa Statellite Masters Tournament is good for the nation. They can improve upon it in Nigeria.

"Even though they performed well, they could have done better, but inadequate pre-match preparations both technically and psychologically, resulted in the defeat of Darkey and Adjei-Darko in the second round and quarter finals of the tournament respectively," Coach Churcher said.

He expressed the hope that the two top players would overcome their problems and put up an improved performance in the next tournament to be staged in Nigeria which kicks off on Monday August 12.

He expressed optimism about the future of tennis in Ghana because the nation still has young tennis players in the person of Darkey, Adjei-Darko, Daniel Fumi and other talented players who can play for a long time.