ITF expert calls for more tournaments

Lawn Tennis Association of Malawi (Ltam) needs at least 12 competitions to improve the sport  in the country, International Tennis Federation (ITF) Development Officer for Southern Africa, Riaan Kruger, has said.

Kruger made the statement on Sunday at the Malawi National Tennis Centre in Blantyre during a fact finding mission on the progress of the country’s junior tennis programme in terms of athletes’ performance.

At present, the country has less than five competitions for senior and junior players.

“Malawi is doing well especially at taking lawn tennis to schools. However, there is a need to improve performance training for the best players and more national competitions. The goal should be to have at least 12 competitions per annum,” he said.

According to Kruger, there is a plan to have a Play Tennis course and a short course for developing players within the ages of 14 and under this year followed by a level one coaching course in 2017, but these can only be effective if there were more tournaments on the ground.

While agreeing with Kruger on the importance of more competitions, Ltam president Titani Muwalo pleaded with the corporate world to help them grow the sport in the country through sponsorship.

“We appreciate the material and technical support we get from the ITF. However, things could have been much easier if more companies came to our rescue with sponsorship,” Muwalo said.

He said Ltam has targeted  five new tournaments this year but still they need corporate support to fulfil the dreams.