Kenya's top seed in the women's wheelchair tennis Jane Ndenga Tennis Kenya's new partnership with Betway signed on Tuesday is god-sent.
The betting firm, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, will help players drawn from the wheelchair and deaf categories get uniforms, balls and rackets. The wheelchair and deaf teams were established in 2012 and 2018 respectively.
Ndenga, who doubles up as the player representative in the Tennis Kenya Council, revealed that the federation was kind enough to provide balls and kits leaving the players to go out of their way to buy rackets.
Ndenga, who is ranked 94th globally, said a standard racket retails for in excess of Sh22,000 and noted that Betway's support will go a long way in helping majority of the players in stepping up their game as well as saving money.
"A player needs at least four rackets during tournaments and Betway has now made it easier for us. The federation was providing everything apart from rackets, are quite expensive, but we are now covered," she said
Speaking when the betting company delivered the equipment at Nairobi Club, Ndenga noted that the gesture will motivate and thus battle to improve on their game.
"As persons living with disability, we are grateful to Betway for delivering the materials. It's tough to get partners and we appreciate their support. This will lift the standards of the game and will help us bring more talented but disabled players from the grassroots levels on board," she noted.
Meanwhile, Betway's Public Relations Executive Karen Njerenga said they opted to promote players from the two categories through the federation courtesy of their achievements at the international level.
"We opted to partner with Tennis Kenya to support the deaf and wheelchair teams which have been doing well at the international level. We hope they will be inspired to scale new heights in their careers and at the same time, it will be a long-term interaction with them," she said
