Parklands Sports Club hosts players from 24 countries for ITF event
By Charles.Thuku, May 9, 2023
A total of 74 participants drawn from 24 countries will converge today at Parklands Sports Club (PSC) in Nairobi for a two-week International Tennis Federation (ITF) under-18 ranking Championship.
Tournament Director George Oyoo said the two-week event that is convened by Extreme Tennis Academy shall encompass 42 boys and 32 girls with the qualifying event for the main draw starting last Saturday and was scheduled to end yesterday.
The referee of the tournament is Elly Madegwa who has had a checkered career in the country in the profession.
Collins Abala, the Director of Extreme Academy, said at stake in the high profile are ITF points for players to be eligible to feature in Grand Slam and ATP Tours en-route to joining the professional ranks. This will be the second time for Parklands Sports Club to host world beaters after the 2007 ITF Money Circuit.
The club has completed its ambitious project to renovate the club house which is officially opened to its members and guests. In order to make the tournament a success, the club has upgraded its seven murram surface tennis courts to ensure smooth hosting of the event.
“We expect to host 120 international players during the tournament. We feel honored to partner with the lawn tennis fraternity for the second time and we are duty bound to be part of the entity to groom inherent talent in the sport,” the Club’s General Manager Lorna Kiema told journalists.
She added” You are our distinguished guests. Please feel free to use our facility throughout the course of the event,”
Apart from the tennis court and the club house, the facility also hosts an athletics tartan track , football pitch squash court, a modernized gymnasium equipment, cardio stair case climber, cardio integrity SL treadmill, cardio cross trainer and 20bIC 6 Spin bikes, basketball courts among other sporting facilities.