UTA readmitted to African, world bodies

KAMPALA.

Uganda Tennis Association (UTA) have been through the worst of times.
From lacking sponsorship to facilitate their development programmes to lack of worthy tournaments including the coveted Uganda Open, UTA have bared it all.
And with the critics baring their fangs and pointing a finger at the association for failing to keep the game on the rails, UTA can now heave a sigh of relief.
UTA president Cedric Ndilima Babu disclosed the news on his Facebook account yesterday and offered more proof of the associations’ readmission to International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) with signed letters from the respective bodies’ heads David Haggerty and Hichem Riani.
“It has been a wait of seven years,” said Babu soon after getting the communication from the ITF Board of Directors Meeting held in Minsk, Belarus this week. “We accumulated some affiliation fees arrears between 2007 to 2010 and that is when both bodies took away our membership. To regain the same, we have had to pay $6,000 (about Shs22m) per year since our full suspension in 2010 plus the arrears between 2007-10 hence totaling to $50,000 (an estimated Shs182m). Our suspension will officially be lifted starting January 1, 2018.”
Moving forward
Babu, who has been at the helm of the sport for three and a half years now hopes the association, can move in one direction with more energy and positivity.
“When I became chairman, we were faced with many problems particularly with finances and more importantly we were not members of ITF. These two combined a brick wall. But now I believe we have solved the biggest problem thanks to Uganda Olympic Committee, National Council of Sports, UTA executive members and the task force. It has been team work.
“Now we will be able to access development resources, participate in Davis /FedCup, junior tennis events and host tennis events. The calendar will run fully now because we will have attractive events that can entice the sponsors.”
Daily Monitor has learnt that UTA have a scheduled executive meeting next week and plan to have ITF development and coaches’ courses early next year as well as reinvent the Uganda Open. The association intends to field the national team in the Davis Cup, host four ITF Futures circuits and have the juniors participate in the regional tournaments as well.