Godwin is lined up to represent Tanzania at this year’s African
Junior Tennis Championships (AJTC) to be staged in Pretoria early next
month.
Lack of funds has compelled the teen to pullout from the ten-day
continental championship that gets underway in Pretoria from March 8.
National tennis team head coach Nicholas Jonas who is accompanying
the team said Goodwin will be unable to travel as a result of poor
financing.
He said due to this development the country will be represented by
two players Omari Sulle and Esther Namkulanga who features for Arusha
Gymkhana Club.
The coach said the two players Sulle and Namkulanga will be paid
return flight tickets by their club of Arusha Gymkhana Club and are
expected to board a Johannesburg bound flight on March 7 before
connecting a transfer to Pretoria.
The hosts will be responsible for accommodation, meals and internal
transport of all visiting players throughout the duration of the
tournament.
The coach poured blames into Tanzania Tennis Association’s (TTA)
inactiveness in sourcing money to send players to international events.
“The local tennis association should now wake up, imagine the two
players Sulle and Namkulanga and me we will be traveling to represent
the country using money from Arusha Gymkhana Club. Goodwin is stranded
as he and his club has failed to raise the money. Where is the national
tennis association? This was supposed to be their job not clubs or
individuals”, he said.
The three players, according to Jonas were selected after
impressing at the East Africa Championship held in Kenya early this
year.
He said the duo are currently undergoing intensive trainings at Arusha Gymkhana Club under his supervision.
“The players are responding very well to training and I hope they
will perform well at the event, it’s one of the biggest tennis
tournaments in Africa where the best junior tennis players from the
continent meet, but with good preparations we can pull a surprise”, he
said.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
