Rousing welcome for wheelchair tennis team after bronze feat in Morocco
The Ghana Wheelchair Tennis (GWT) Team, on Monday received a rousing welcome at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) when they arrived from Morocco.
The team won bronze at the 2025 International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Clubs (WTC) Africa qualifiers tournament.
They were met on arrival by Dr Henry Larbi, the General Secretary of the National Paralympic Committee, lovers of wheelchair tennis, the media and other members from the para sporting fraternity.
Dr Henry Larbi was overwhelmed with the reception given to the athletes and commended the team for raising the flag of Ghana high.
He said, “We had a good preparation this year as compared to last year; we spent two weeks in residential training and I want to thank Mr Joseph Dzameshie for hosting us.”
“We also had some financial contribution from individuals and Donewell Insurance Company. We were supposed to go with four players and one coach, but due to financial challenges we had to send only two players and a coach, I want to thank our female athletes for the sacrifice.”
He also thanked Ghana’s Ambassador to Morocco Mrs Charity Gbedaw, for visiting the team at the training session.
He said, “The Ghana Ambassador visited the team during training, motivated them and provided them with some support like feeding and funds.”
He said the team also got the opportunity to meet some government officials who were in Morocco for conferences and that also motivated them.
He stated that the GWT in collaboration with the Ghana Tennis Federation (GTF) had formed a compressive five-member committee to develop young talent across the country.
Furthermore, he noted that, “Sunrise SHS has promised to give scholarship to a wheelchair tennis player and will also support them in training because the school has a tennis court.”
He said that the federation would also give opportunities for students to apply for a college in the United States.
Bernard Yawson, one of the players, also thanked the federation and Ghanaians for the support.
“We thank God for the safe trip and the efforts made by our leaders, but we need proper wheelchair to be able to compete with others. For instance, Morocco, South Africa, Egypt use lighter chairs with an anti-tip caster wheel in the back, but we use metal ones which are heavier.
He called on, the government, individuals, corporate entities for financial support and equipment for our training.” –GNA
