The construction of new tennis courts for the Gambia Cricket Association is at advanced stage, with the first phase of the construction nearing completion.
The project, which is in stages, is a priority for the association.
It will feature four courts, which is a requirement for the association, to help them stage international tournaments, going by the ITF standard.
Out of the four courts, currently twoare under construction, whichwill help the Gambia Tennis Association (GTA) to host international games and conduct training on the former two courts at the stadium; so that can put the country in good stead to stage international games .
The secretary general of the GTA, Mr Phillips, said presently about 45 trips of stones have been dumped at the site and have been levelled and compacted.
He said they need about 6 to 7 more trips of gravel to complete the filling, after they have realised that there are some areas which they suppose to fill to have the right surface of the courts.
“The company responsible for the job said they would do it free of charge for us - they are called Green impact company. They will also help with watering of the area with their water tank to make it more compact,” Mr Philips explained.
The GTA secretary general added that the toughest part of the work is the concreting of the courts, because they will need Basel stones, sand and cement.
“We need 16 trips of Basel stones, which is costly, but we have started mobilizing funds from various people, companies, the government and parastatals to do the work. Also by next week we will be sending letters to our sister federations national and outside,” he said.
“We have also got somebody, a Gambian, who is based in USA, America, to secure funding on our behalf but we are yet to have an approval from the Ministry of Youth and Sports who will have to give him [the person in the US] authorizations to do that.”
Phillips said further: “Constructing the four courts is our priority and will be left with other three courts, which will be the second face of the project and after the second face then probably we will have club house offices, etc, and the last thing we will think of will be the swimming pool.”
