Over one hundred underage children including males and females on Thursday, December 23, 2021, started a two-day Tennis training tournament at the Liberia Tennis Federation head office court in Paynesville City. The program is in partnership with the Liberia Tennis Federation, which is the parent body of the sport in the country.
The program was marked with several categories including, boys and girls 14 and below, middle age, prime single, and veterans. Speaking at the start of the program, the head of the tournament, Mr. Alfred Kandarkai said, their major goal is to increase the number of tennis players in Liberia. Kandarkai who is an internationally certified Tennis Coach from Valencia, Spain indicated that their aim is to end the dominance of football and Basketball in the country by rebranding the tennis federation.
“Football and Basketball are not the only sports in Liberia. I have come to tell you that tennis has more opportunities than the very football and basketball. People who played tennis live longer as compared to other sports. The turn-up today is very much encouraging as you can see. We want to keep doing these things for our kids so they can develop and become great tennis players in time to come”, he added.
Also speaking, the Organizing Committee Chairperson of Tennis Tournament 2021, Paul King said there are more tennis programs on the international scene that they want Liberian kids to be a part of in the future. According to him, creating more tennis programs will help develop more kids, adding that, they have embarked on providing more opportunities that could allow them to develop.
“Our focus point, for now, is to attract kids into this game. Is from this backdrop that we have established this program to develop our kids. We also want the government to increase the budget for sports. Today, we have installed lights on the court to allow tennis to be played both day and night. I think with government support, we can do more for our young people because sports are hugely admired by them”, Mr. King concluded.
Reported by Sports Director: Sylvester Tamba
Email: stamba498@gmail.com
Phone number: +231776687195
Whatsapp number: +231776687195
