Armenians in town without their number one seed

The Armenian Tennis team who are scheduled to play their Ghanaian counterparts in the Euro Africa Zone Two Davis Cup play off arrived in Accra on Tuesday without their number one seed Sazgis Sazgsian, ranked 73rd in the world.

In an interview with the GNA Sports, Alex Tsafoucien Captain (coach) of the Armenian team said the player is likely to touch down in Accra on Thursday, a day to the commencement of the competition. He said the team is in Ghana with one aim- to remain in the Zone two- and would do everything to ensure that their goal becomes a reality.

"Even though in Davis Cup, there is no correlation between rankings and results, factors like home support play a significant role in determining the winner but we are confident to win", said the Armenia Captain.

Tsafoucien said he does not see the sunny weather playing any significant role to Ghana's advantage since Armenia lies south of Europe where the climate is as humid as that of Ghana. Currently, the Armenian team is made up Tsolak Gevozkian the number two seed, Harut Sofyan and Naik Hakobyan.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Youth and Sports (MOYS), Mr Edward Osei Kwaku, is making frantic effort to patch up relations between Henry Adjei Darko, Ghana's number two seed and officials of the Ghana’s Golden Racket, which has resulted in the player’s absence from camp.

He has subsequently tasked Dr Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, Acting Chief Executive of the National Sports Council (NSC) to liase with the coach of the team and the family to ensure that Darkoh features for Ghana in the three-day tournament.

The minister told GNA Sports in an interview that he sees it as a duty to Ghana and his office to bring his influence to bear on the matter to ensure that the country presents her best team in such a crucial tournament. He said, "in matters of this nature, it is important that everybody puts all pride and bitterness aside to be able to threat the issue at stake without any emotion to ensure that Ghana places above everything."

Adjei-Darko arrived in the country last Monday to participate in the three-day Euro Africa Zone Two Davis Cup play off match against Armenia but has since refused to join the team due to perceived differences between him and officials. With only two days remaining for the competition at the Accra Sports Stadium, all attempts to reach him have proved futile.