The Gambia National Olympic Committee award winning veteran lawn tennis star Phillip Akibogun, secretary general of the Gambia Lawn Tennis Association, has disclosed to Pointsport that the association is stepping up preparations for the annual international tennis Federation and Confederation of Africa Tennis Championship due to take place in Mbur, Senegal, next month.
Akibogun, a well known veteran tennis icon who recently received an award for the most outstanding lawn tennis contributor by the GNOC in recognition of his valuable contribution to the development and promotion of young tennis players, revealed this information to our reporter at the Independence Stadium Tennis Lawn yesterday evening.
“In the pipeline, we have the annual ITF, CAT championship in Mbur, Senegal, scheduled to take place from July 14 to 22 and a total of 6 players from GTA will be selected to represent the country,” he said.
The six Gambian tennis players whose names are yet to be disclosed to the public have since two months ago stepped up preparatory efforts ahead of the championship that is expected to attract 20 countries from West and Central Africa.
The championship is also expected to serve as an automatic qualification process where the best performers will be selected to represent the continent in the Africa Junior Tennis Championship the venue of which will be announced later,” says Phillip, commonly called Uncle Phillip.
It would be recalled that last year The Gambia Tennis Association did tremendously well after it clinched two silver medals in the last Junior Tennis Championship in Mbur, Senegal.
