NAIROBI, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan sports officials said Monday they are putting facilities in place to make Nairobi city the tennis-playing center of Africa.
Kirimi Kaberia, Sports Principal Secretary said that for long Kenya has been an active participant in the sport and time was ripe for the country to take the frontline in the development and expansion of the game within the continent.
"We want to demystify the myth that tennis is an elitist game only played by children of rich parents by spreading the game to the local populace with the trust that the concept will be embraced by other African countries," Kaberia said during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Davis Cup tournament in Nairobi.
The tournament, which ends on Saturday, has attracted 36 players from nine countries and regions of which the two winning teams from each pool will be promoted to the Euro/Africa Zone Group 11 next year.
Hosts Kenya are drawn in Group 'B' alongside Algeria, Uganda, Mozambique, Namibia and Uganda whereas Group 'A' features top ranked Benin, Nigeria, Rwanda and Cameroon.
Kaberia said the government has already allocated 10 acres of land worth over 30,000 U.S. dollars for the construction of 24 public courts in Nairobi, the first in the region, for community participation that will have the effect of tapping undiscovered talent from the disadvantaged in the society.
He said by nominating Kenya to host Davis Cup, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has expressed confidence in the country's ability to host key international events.
Kenya has of late hosted several regional and continental tennis championships owing to its structural and organizational ability.
David Haggerty, the president of ITF who visited Kenya in April to commission the construction of the public courts, backed Kenya to host the Women Tennis Association (WTA) and Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in future after the training center is completed in one and a half years.
James Kenani, the President of Tennis Kenya, said tennis is a strategic but not an expensive game to develop.
"The sport does not require much and we have already started coaching beginners with the most rudimentary of provisions like using two sticks on either sides to hold a rope that runs across the court to create a net," Kenani said.
He said the association has already deployed tennis coaches to select schools on a pilot project as the organization embarks on the process to spread the game around the country. Enditem
