Tennis courts get new surface |18 November 2009
National Sports Council chief executive Alain Volcère said the local governing sports body
Speaking to the media yesterday afternoon, the NSC chief added that the old decayed top layer has been removed and preparatory work to resurface the courts has been completed.
Repair work on one court costs almost US $15,000 (around R150,000) and the NSC is thankful to Vijay Construction and CCCL for doing all the work free of charge.
“This is a very good example of partnership between the NSC, the private sector and local sports federations and associations,” said Mr Volcère.
“This is the way forward. We need to get the private sector on board, either through the sports programmes being run or through their investment in the refurbishment of sporting facilities,” he added.
STA chairman John Adam said that he is happy that work on the courts is going on.
“We thank the NSC and Mr Volcère, the Seychelles government, Vijay Construction, CCCL and the ITF for their help,” he said.
“It gives me great joy because the refurbished courts will mean a new beginning for Seychelles’ tennis. I’m sure that more people will come to play tennis when the courts are ready.”
The STA has already received US $5,000 from the ITF to buy equipment to resurface the courts. Once the equipment has been shipped in and the work is completed, the international tennis body will give the STA another US $5,000 as promised.
Mr Adam said the STA has already made a request for an extra US $20,000 from the ITF to cover the excess in the cost of the renovation work.
The new synthetic surface is expected to last another 10 years.
Work on one of the courts nearest to the swimming pools has been completed, and the STA is letting it cure before it is used.
Mr Adam added that when work on all the courts is completed, the second phase will be to renovate the clubhouse and then add seating.
The five courts were built for the fourth Indian Ocean Island Games, which Seychelles hosted in 1993.
In late April this year, Harold Stravens of HIS Enterprise resurfaced one of the courts.
Speaking to Sports Nation at the time, Mr Stravens said: “The resurfacing work has been done at a substantial cost, but I’m happy to give this gift to Seychelles’ tennis and the country’s youth. It’s an honour for me to do this.”
Well known for the Mahe-Praslin crossing on a windsurfing board, Mr Stravens imported all the materials, hired experts from the South Africa-based Tenecon Sports Surfaces company and paid local workers to work on the project.
G. G.