The National Stadium Lawn Tennis and Hill Station Tennis courts in Freetown, will be the venues for this year’s Sierra Leone Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Junior Championship slated for December 7-9.
The SLTA Secretary-General Yayah Koroma, told Awoko Sports that unlike the National Junior Championships which was funded by the Sierra Leone National Olympic Committee in September 2012, the forthcoming tournament will be run and financed by his association.
“Since the implementation of the Junior Tennis Initiative (J.T.I) program in November 2011, we have embarked on beefing up the programme by organizing training sessions and competitions as frequently as possible, which will help develop the junior players,” Koroma said.
He further revealed that the organization of frequent training sessions and competitions is also part of the Executive, meeting their international commitments.
“This December tournament will enable the association send its final quarterly report to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which is mandatory. All national associations must send four quarterly reports together with photos of junior competitions of its JTI programmes,” the SLTA scribe said and proudly revealed that Sierra Leone is amongst the few countries in West &Central Africa that has been able to meet the ITF requirements.
Koroma further noted that the forthcoming tournament will also serve as a preparatory ground for the kids ahead of the ITF &CAT West/Central Africa Junior Championships which will run from January 7 to the 13th 2013 in Lome, Togo.
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