The Ghana Wheelchair Tennis Federation (GWTF), in collaboration with the Ghana Tennis Federation, has organised a one-day National Wheelchair Tennis Juniors Training for professional and beginner wheelchair tennis players.
The training, with support from the International Tennis Federation (ITF), aimed to identifyĀ new talent and to select playersĀ for theĀ GWTF team ahead of an international competition later in October in South Africa.
Over 60Ā para-athletes from Accra, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Tamale, andĀ Kumasi took part in this yearās programme.
In an interview with the GNA Sports, Coach Yahya MacauleyĀ said todayās attendance was very impressive as compared to the previous years.
He said, āTodayās event shows that the future of wheelchair tennis in Ghana is bright; the athletes are very young, aged six and above.ā
āI hope that in five years to come weĀ willĀ have top-rankedĀ wheelchair tennis starsĀ in the world.ā
Coach Yahya said the event was also used to introduce a new sport called adaptive tennis.
He thanked the coaches and the organisers for a successful event. āI want to use this opportunity to thank all the coaches from the other regions who haveĀ givenĀ us theirĀ players; they didĀ aĀ very good job in terms of the playersā selections.ā
He also called on government and non-governmental organisations for support.
Bridget Nartey, Ghana’s number oneĀ female wheelchairĀ tennisĀ player,Ā applauded the organisers for this yearās competition.
She said the attendance was encouraging, and some of the children were very happy playing the gameĀ for the first time.
Nartey called on persons with disabilities to join the sport: āIĀ urge all disabled persons toĀ find an active parasportĀ they canĀ do forĀ themselvesĀ and the country.ā
āIf anyone thinks there is no hopeĀ forĀ persons with disabilities, that isĀ not true;Ā there is still hope. Encourage yourselfĀ toĀ learnĀ one of theĀ sports,Ā like wheelchair tennis, Para-powerlifting, para-badminton, etc.ā