24 To vie for tennis ranking

THE Greater Accra Table Tennis Association will hold its fifth open ranking tournament at the Sports Hall of the Accra Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday.

The two-day tourney is part of the GTTA’s effort at harnessing talents to improve upon the sport in the country.

In all, 24 players will be divided into four groups of six, of which two top players each will be selected to play an all-round game to determine the winner.

So far, Courage Nanevie is leading the Men’s division of ranking tournament with 29 points at the end of four matches. He is closely followed by Joseph Osei with 23 points, Solomon Akonor, 19, David Carbo, 16, Aikins Acquah 13, David Mills, 11, with others following in that order to complete the 16-member list.

In the women’s division, Esther Lamptey is currently leading the 12- member chart after playing in two of the four matches organised so far with 20 points.

She is being closely followed in the second position by Millicent Maanah with 18 points while Raphael Ako and Patience Adjetey also occupy the third and fourth position with 16 and 10 points respectively.

According to the Chief Coach of the GTTA, Mr V.A Arhin, three more open tournaments will be organised before the association host sits first year anniversary.

Meanwhile, the first anniversary Celebration of the Greater Accra Table Tennis Academy and Parents Coaches Union will officially take place at the Sports Hall on December 14.

The one-day event will bring together players from other regions to add colour to the occasion.

Eastern Region, the pioneer region which is historically remembered as the place where academy exercise was born, will participate in the anniversary with four male and four female players, with a Japanese Volunteer as their trainer.

Mr Emmanuel Armah, the proprietor of Next Door Beach Resort, will provide drinks and other items to refresh the participants during the anniversary celebration tournament.

Ten prizes have been earmarked for deserving winners. Prizes to be won include the first four from both the men’s and women’s division and one for the well-behaved player from each division.