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Sport has no borders, no homeland – Greek Cypriot and Turkish together at the Australian Open junior

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Sport has no borders, no homeland - Greek Cypriot and Turkish together in the Australian Open junior

Young tennis players Konstantinos Kosis and Togan Tokaç showed the way of cooperation and coexistence by participating in the Australian Open junior doubles. These are the number 1 tennis players in the under-18 category in Cyprus and Turkey respectively, who despite the big differences between their countries, decided to play together in the Australian Open doubles, sending the message of reconciliation and peace.

The coach and brother of the 18-year-old tennis player, George Kosis, in statements to “P” said that the joint participation of the two athletes in the double of the Australian Open is the result of a long-term friendship. “They have been participating in international tournaments since they were 12 years old and they have developed a friendship,” he noted. “They have played together again and won tournaments in Turkey.”

As Mr. Kosis explained, the Australian Open has a private character and therefore every tennis player can choose a teammate for anyone, regardless of nationality and origin. Hence the ability of the two friends to compete together.

Guterres intervention

However, in his latest report on his good services in Cyprus, G.G. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has made a number of recommendations to the leaders of the two communities to improve the climate in relations between the two sides. He makes a special reference to the field of sports, emphasizing that the creation of foundations for peace requires people, especially young people, to interact, participate in dialogue and build relationships of trust. “The idea,” he says, “of working together in sport to bring young people together and promote interaction between the two communities through sporting activities, including, possibly, setting up a technical committee on the subject, is still worth considering.”

Of course, Antonio Guterres's recommendation concerns the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots. However, the interaction of a Greek Cypriot with a Turkish athlete brings him equally good results in trying to achieve a peaceful climate of cooperation in our region.

Minor sponsorships

Problems in the sport of tennis, with the small budgets offered / available by the state through the COM to the Cyprus Tennis Federation, which is close to 150 thousand euros, push talented and promising Turkish Cypriot athletes to Turkey, which has a much larger federation, with bands at 50 million euros. And it is not only the Turkish Cypriot tennis players who are looking for greater benefits in other countries such as Turkey, but also the Greek Cypriots who are forced to play sports and pursue a career in sports at their own expense.

After all, a tennis player with a budget of 10 thousand euros a year can not compete with tennis players abroad with a budget of 150 thousand euros. However, the state's investment in talented athletes who stand out internationally could generate significant revenue and international recognition, whatever that means in tourism.

Personal battle

The low budgets in Cyprus and the lack of infrastructure were not suitable for professional training and development of a tennis player. As a result, Konstantinos Kosis is forced to live and play sports abroad, as his stay in Cyprus entails huge expenses for travel tickets and food. That is, budgets that exceed 2 thousand euros per week.

At this stage, Konstantinos Kosis lives and plays sports in Spain, where there are several athletes and suitable competition conditions for proper training and promotion. He previously lived in France and played sports at the famous Mouratoglou Tennis Center. This is a French tennis academy with professional courts and infrastructure, which offered the opportunity to Konstantinos Kosias to train for about two years for free due to his international distinctions, since he was number 1 in Europe in the category of tennis players under 14 years old.

It is noted that the junior categories do not bring income to the distinguished tennis players, and therefore the expenses of Konstantinos Kosias were borne entirely by his family.

Konstantinos Kosis was forced to enroll in an American school and attend online classes for his education due to his stay abroad, while a private school contributed to the free province of Famagusta, which offered significant support to the Cypriot tennis player, such as reinforced courses to fill vacancies. created by his absences as a result of his participation in international tournaments. In fact, the American school will be able to offer him a scholarship for studies in case he does not develop professionally in the sport of tennis.

Today, the Cypriot tennis player holds an important position in the world ranking of under-18s, which changes every week depending on the performance of each athlete, with Konstantinos Kosias having reached the point of being in the top 57 internationally.

In the “16” Konstantinos Kosis

Sport has no borders, no homeland - Greek Cypriot and Turkish together in the Australian Open junior

Konstantinos Kosis continues his good course in the first Grand Slam of his career. In fact, last Monday he managed another victory, qualifying for the “16” phase in Melbourne.

In his first participation in the main board in the junior category, Konstantinos Kosis qualified for the third round of the Australian Open. The 18-year-old Cypriot tennis player prevailed over the Australian Jeremy Jin 6-4, 6-2 and qualified for the 3rd round of the Australian Open Junior.

It is Konstantinos's first participation in a grand slam Grand Slam event at the ITF Juniors Tour and so far he is doing well. In the first round he had celebrated a very great victory, taking out the Frenchman Gabriel Debru, No.6 on the board and No. 10 in the world juniors ranking. In the 3rd round of the tournament, where he will claim the qualification to the quarterfinals, Kosis will face the Swiss Kilian Feldbausch, No. 11 on the board and No. 19 in the world junior ranking.

Source: politis.com.cy

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