New tennis sensation Angela Okutoyi has urged the government to invest more in games for future generations to flourish globally when called upon.
Okutoyi made the headlines after making history on Saturday afternoon by becoming the first-ever Kenyan to win a Grand slam.
However, in an interview with a local television, Okutoyi labelled the available sports infrastructure in the country as wanting.
Okutoyi correspondingly called on the government and other interested parties to properly fund the sport to enable local clubs to identify talent and give young Kenyans the opportunity to view tennis as a career.
According to Okutoyi, the sport is often overlooked in Kenya and other African countries since it is largely viewed as something of a white man’s game.
As such, she said, funds allocated to the sport by the government for equipment and training facilities pale in comparison to what other locally available sports such as football are receiving.
“Currently Kenya has no facilities and most clubs we have been members-only clubs. We don’t have a public facility for most of us to play in, so it is not easy to access the training amenities,” Okutoyi said.
Okutoyi further said lack of easily accessible and proper training facilities is impeding a lot of potential local tennis players from making the leap to the global stage.
In the same breath, the fast-rising star narrated Kenya’s inability to hold major tournaments locally due to the availability of limited facilities.
This, according to Okutoyi, doesn’t allow the country’s exceptionally talented tennis players to showcase their talents first-hand.
The newly crowned champion further said her focus now is senior tournaments in the near future.