ITF World Summer 2021 37
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia is another big nation with a very good tennis
culture. However, in the recent past they have suffered
and not been able to fulfil their potential in terms of
tennis development due to the quality of national
association leadership.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it just was
not working and for the past five years their level of
activity has been minimal, although in October 2020
new leadership, under president Tamrat Bekele, came
to the table.
I am very hopeful for the future and work
is underway regarding the implementation of
programmes within Ethiopia, while the national
association is keen for the country to host ITF World
Tennis Tour events.
There is also a focus upon coaching and an appetite
to run courses at beginner and intermediate level
and really boost coaches' education, so already the
progress of the new administration is there to see.
Indeed, providing support to Ethiopia is one of
the priorities for this year and next. There are so
many players within the country, and I firmly believe
that Ethiopia can have a major impact upon tennis
development within the region.
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SUDAN
There is so much development potential and
opportunity in Sudan. For starters, the Sudan Tennis
Association owns 14 courts in Khartoum and no other
national association in my region has access to that
scale of facility.
The only real challenge which Sudan has regarding
development is a lack of potential for tennis players
within the country, of which there are many, to travel
and compete in other nations. This is due to a lack of
finance, with no government support available to the
national association.
Within the country itself, there is a high number
of well-qualified coaches (one ITF high-performance
coach, two advanced level coaches and eight beginner/
intermediate coaches), while the leadership of the
national association is equally qualified, with President
Khalid Talaat Farid having played at a high level.
The tennis knowledge within the administration
is therefore considerable and, with Sudan being
geographically close to Egypt, there is good
communication and an efficient sharing of best
practice between those two nations.
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