Ministry denies tennis team funds

... Ghana's absence causes ripples
The 2nd International Tennis Federation/ Confederation of African Tennis West and Central Africa Junior Tennis Championships served off yesterday in Abuja with a little controversy surrounding Ghana?s non-participation at the event.

The tournament, billed to serve as one of the zonal qualifiers to select players for the African Junior Championships holding in Botswana in March, already has a handful of players from about 11 countries in the West and Central African sub-regions but Ghana?s non-appearance forced the Vice-President of the CAT, Sani Ndanusa, to raise some eyebrows.

Ndanusa said that the tennis federation in Ghana had duly registered players to play in the zonal qualifiers before they opted out.

Ndanusa, who is the President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), argued that the decision of the sports ministry in Ghana to deny the tennis team of funds to make the trip to the zonal qualifiers was not proper, inferring that it was not unconnected with the country?s preparations to host soccer?s African Cup of Nations, kicking off January 20 in Accra.

Speaking over the telephone yesterday from Abuja, Ndanusa expressed worry over the age-long continued football dominance over other sports in the African setting, stressing that it was high time that such unfair treatment be put to a stop by African nations, who he said were wittingly and unwittingly killing the development of sports, other than soccer.

?We cannot continue like this or else, other sports will go under. How do you explain the situation that funds meant to assist the development of tennis in Ghana, were not released for an event holding here in Nigeria?, queried Ndanusa. He added that Ghana?s no-show at the zonal qualifiers was going to deal a deadly bow to the country?s developmental plans in the next two years.

?This tournament serves as a zonal qualifiers for the African Junior Championships holding in Botswana in March and the fact that Ghana has no team here means that its players cannot participate at the AJC, which in itself means that players from that country would not qualify to assess developmental aids from the ITF and CAT, who after every AJC awards scholarship training awards to deserving players.?