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18.12.2002 Tennis

National table tennis team disappointed

18.12.2002 LISTEN
By GNA

The National Table Tennis team the Golden Loopers, has once again been disappointed as they cannot participate in the on-going Africa Youth and Seniors Table Tennis Competition in South Africa.

Information reaching GNA sports indicated that the Ministry of Youth and Sports has failed to raise the needed funds from the Ministry of Finance for the team to undertake the trip.

Following these development, players of the team who have been in camp since October are considering quitting the sport to concentrate on other activities which they say might be more beneficial to them than table tennis.

Speaking to the GNA Sports, the seven-member team led by Solomon Akunor, captain, who is also the number one seed said they cannot continue to train everyday without taking part in any competition adding that there is no need for them to continue with the sports.

"We have been training for the past three months for this competition only to be told that we cannot make the trip through no faults of ours" Akunnor said.

According to Akunor they missed the Seniors Nation Cup in Tunisia this year due to similar reasons. The number one seed who also doubles as the national champion said they have been in camp under hash conditions and have sacrificed a lot for the past months in anticipation of the tournament.

Akunnor said they are now demanding for a compensation from the authorities for the long camping, after which most of them would quit the sport.

Linda Annor the female's top seed also added her voice to that of the team's captain saying that after being disappointed on several occasions she has decided to abandon the game and look elsewhere.

She said unlike Ghana their colleague in Nigeria are well motivated and are given the chance to participate in international competitions which have improved their standing on the World ranking.

According Annor the most disturbing part of the situation is that some members of the team are still in school and have to abandon their classes for camping in preparation for the tournament.

The players called for proper attention to be given the game to prevent it from collapsing.

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