STAG International agrees to sponsor GTTA

The Ghana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) has landed a major sponsorship deal with a renowned Indian sports firm, STAG International.

The $80,000-worth four-year renewable agreement will see STAG International provide ping-pong equipment, including the highest standard show court complete set tables, regular International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) approved table tennis tables, training, and competition balls, surrounds, and umpire tables.

The multi-sport brand company will also become the official kit supplier for the Association and provide yearly clothing sets to all the national table tennis teams and the two best teams in the Ghana national table tennis league.

At a brief event to announce the package at the offices of the Ghana Olympic Committee in Accra, the President of GTTA, Mawuko Afadzinu, disclosed that STAG International would in return have their name embossed on the jerseys and other kits of the national team.

He said the agency would also be the official sponsor of the Black Loopers.

According to him, after appealing to the Sports Ministry for the necessary waivers at the ports, the equipment from STAG will arrive in July.

“This will be after we had provided the jersey colours, sizes, quality and other details to STAG International,” he stated.

He stressed that the agreement between the two parties was reached a fortnight ago in Sweden, adding that his outfit would ensure that the sport does not become an Accra game.

“We shall distribute these kits, boards, balls, bats and jerseys to every nuke and cranny of the country,” he assured.

He revealed that a deliberate process is ongoing to train technical men and women to acquire coaching techniques and knowledge to offset the coaching deficit in the country.

Currently, the nation has only two table tennis coaches and Mr Afadzinu told the media his outfit would liaise with the Ghana Education Service and other relevant entities to train ping-pong coaches to help recruit talents in schools and communities.

The co-chairman of STAG International, Vivek Kohli, who signed the deal on behalf of his outfit in Sweden, expressed the hope that the new relationship with the GTTA would stimulate a renaissance of the sport in Ghana.

He predicted that very soon Ghana would become the country to beat in table tennis.