A citation of honor has been given to Mr. Owusu Isaac in a short ceremony held at the 4 Garrison Officers Mess Tennis Club on Friday,24th February 2023.
The event which occurred at the tennis courts of the club was to appreciate Mr. Owusu who single-handedly sponsored the 2022 Ashanti Open tennis championship in December last year. In receiving the award, Mr. Owusu poured out words of gratitude to the organizers of the annual competition.
He said it is not everyone that will be grateful for something you do for them. “I want to thank Tentrio Ghana Limited and the Ghana Tennis Federation.
Tennis is an activity that excites a lot of people which is why I got motivated to sponsor the event. I am so grateful to them for applauding my effort. It is not everyone that will portray appreciation for being done well. What they have done will encourage me to repeat what I did”, he said.
He pleaded with the Ghanaian public to try and support sports notwithstanding the tough economic situations because he believes that is what brings joy and optimism to the Ghanaian people “I will plead with everyone to try and support sports despite the financial stress in the country because that is what brings joy to people.
When there are sporting activities, the hard times are forgotten”, he added. Executive board member of the Ghana Tennis Federation (GTF), Mr. Henry Boni Quarshie, said the GTF is in negotiations with numerous companies to sponsor the subsequent editions and also outlined the challenges the last edition faced. “We are starting the planning of the 2023 edition early.
We have held talks with different companies. We want the next edition to be better than the 2021 and 2022 editions. The challenge we had last year was that the event clashed with the Qatar 2022 world cup hence, the attraction and mileage in the media were low so we don’t want the next one to have a similar fate” he revealed.
Additionally, Mr. Boni opened up on how the tournament is being planned to become a national event with the aid of certain individuals. “Thanks to Mr. Owusu, the carols service of the 4 Garrison Officers Mess every third Friday of December, is part of the tournament now so gradually we are making it a national program”, he disclosed.
The president of the 4 Garrison Officers Mess Tennis Club, Mr. Benjamin Broye Edusei, also expressed elation over the sponsors’ target of maintaining the courts of the club. The Ashanti open tennis championship is slated for December every year with the third edition expected to be held in the third week of December 2023 at four tennis courts in Kumasi.
