Tennis coach not disturbed by cancelled training tour

The National Sports Commission, NSC, had planned to take the country’s athletes abroad for the final phase of training for the All Africa Games but the plan was eventually discarded due to lack of funds. Speaking to Feverpitch yesterday, the coach said he and his players have since put that disappointment behind them as they […]

The National Sports Commission, NSC, had planned to take the country’s athletes abroad for the final phase of training for the All Africa Games but the plan was eventually discarded due to lack of funds.

Speaking to Feverpitch yesterday, the coach said he and his players have since put that disappointment behind them as they intensify preparations for the games.

Akinyele said he has since fallen back on his plan B saying every aspect of the team’s preparation towards the games is going according to plan.

“You know we are dealing with the NSC here. The original plan was that after the first phase of camping, we would embark on foreign training tour. This is not going to be possible again. It has been cancelled by the NSC. This does not mean that our preparation should be put on hold. We are training to make sure that our players are kept in top form for the games.

“Of course it would have been additional motivation but it is not an issue because if you have plan A, you should equally have plan B. If one fails, you bring up the next one. Therefore, in this case, the plan A did not work so we have fallen back on plan B.

“Even if we had embarked on the proposed foreign training tour, it is these same players that we would have taken there. It is therefore left for us to train these players here with success at the back of our minds”.

Akinloye therefore expressed confidence that the players he has in camp are capable of winning medals at the 10th All Africa Games.

“Our chances are very bright. We are into the second phase of our camping which we commenced a week ago. We had series of assessment which was climaxed through our trials. Everybody was made to play against everybody so we had very tedious trials. Going by the trials and the results we got, we can confidently say we are on track”.

“We have a lot of players who are privileged to have played outside the country but not permanently based there. We are also blessed with young and purposeful players that we think will make this country proud.

“Everybody in the team is a potential medal winner so I will not pin it one player. It is a team and so if one of the players is not there, the team is incomplete”.