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Tennis News of Tuesday, 8 April 2003

Source: GNA Sports

Golden racket coach disappointed

Richard Ayi Dartey, coach of Golden racket has expressed disappointment about the performance of the team in the just ended Davis cup competition which was held at the centre court of the Accra Sports Stadium.

The coach, who saw his side bowing 1-4 to their Slovenian counterparts in an interview with the GNA Sports, blamed the inadequate preparation of the team rather than the performance.

"I'm deeply disappointed in the preparation the team went through for the crucial competition and not about how the boys faired throughout the three-day competition," he said.

He said it was glaring that the team did not have adequate training to enable them squarely match their counterparts who had "virtually toured the world basically for the competition."

The coach conceded that the Slovenians were better than his boys obviously because they has more exposure as compared to their Ghanaian opponents.

"Unlike us, they toured and played in many competition which gave them the edge over us, he said.

He bemoaned the ill preparation, which had a great effect on the players, as top seed Gunther Darkey and Salifu Muhammad pulled crumbs intermediately during their respective games.

Gunther for one, according to information gathered by the GNA Sports, got dehydrated on various occasions, as he did not get the enough assistance from the authorities to enable him to arrive early to acclimatise.

On the players, the coach said the country's number one seed, Darkey's performance was anticipated and was full of praise for sixteen-year old Salif Muhammad who thrilled fans and exhibited great potentials, which indicated a great future for him.