Golden Rackets expected on Friday

Accra, June 28, GNA - The three foreign based players of the Golden Rackets, the national tennis team are expected in the country on Friday, July 1 ahead of their Euro African Group 11 Davis Cup tie against Georgia. The trio, Henry Adjei Darko, Gunther Darkey and Salifu Mohammed are expected to touch down from their bases fourteen clear days before the three-day competition slated for the tennis courts of the Ohene Djan Sports stadium in Accra, between July 15-17.

Mr Jeff Abeasi, Chairman of the Ghana Tennis Association (GTA) told the GNA Sports that the three, together with their local counterparts, Michael Nortey and Fred Egyir would commence camping on Sunday July 3 at the Winneba Sports College.

The Chairman said the players would then move to Accra some few days to the tourney for acclimatisation purposes. He expressed the conviction that the early arrival of the players, a clear departure from the past practice where they arrived only 72hours to the competition would profit the team's preparation. The Golden Rackets are faced with a must win game against Georgia in a tourney that strictly determines their fate of survival in the Group after their fall to Finland in a similar quest last March.

Adjei-Darko, the top seed whom the GNA Sports has learnt opted for an early camping against his International Tennis Federation (ITF) Futures tourney, where he is ranked as the number one seed would arrive from the United Kingdom with Darkey. Mohammed is expected from India where he has been playing on the Circuit. The team's abysmal performance against the Fins in the last competition was fundamentally attributed to their late arrival. Both Adjei-Darko and Mohammed suffered various degrees of injuries during the competition, a situation traced to their inability to acclimatise with the local situation.