Telford: A teenage girl from Telford is due to represent Ghana at a major tennis tournament in Africa next week.
According to Ghana Web, 16-year-old Gwen Klu, from Hadley, will play for the West African country in the Billie Jean King Cup, which will be held in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. Klu was inspired to take up tennis after a coach visited her primary school and introduced the sport at Telford Tennis Centre. She expressed feeling "honoured" for the opportunity and hopes to make a strong impression to secure more opportunities in the future.
Klu has been part of the Ellesmere Tennis Academy for three and a half years and has regularly represented Shropshire's county teams. With eligibility to play for three countries-being born in the UK, having a Ghanaian father who is a former volleyball player, and a French mother-Klu ultimately decided to represent Ghana after achieving an ITF junior world ranking and being noticed by the West African country.
"Ghana gave me the opportunity first so I just took their call," Klu said. She views this as an excellent experience to travel across Africa and explore different cultures. Her focus remains on delivering her best performance in the Africa III group of the tournament, where she could face competitors from countries including Algeria, Nigeria, and Tunisia in a round-robin format. The top two teams will advance to Europe-Africa II.
Klu emphasized her intent on focusing on her performance rather than her opponents, stating, "I've had a few people from Nigeria, for example, that I've already played against, so I'm not bothered about who I'm playing really. I just want to go there and do my best." She also hopes the tournament will attract sponsors for financial support, as her family currently funds her competitions.