Newcastle entrepreneur reignites African nation's tennis hopes

Lighton Musonda, President of the Zambia Tennis Association (ZTA), has expressed his gratitude to founder of the Newcastle-based Adderstone Group and keen tennis player Ian Baggett.

The ZTA’s readmission follows a payment of over US$20,000 in outstanding arrears to the sports global and African governing bodies.

It means the ZTA will now be able to participate in the Davis and Billie Jean Cups, as well as accessing additional financial and professional support for grassroots development which will include improvements to the nation’s tennis infrastructure.

The International Tennis Federation (ITA) suspended the ZTA in 2013 for non-payment of its affiliation fees.

However, late last year, with the financial support of Mr Baggett, Adderstone, and others, the ZTA was able to repay the $US20,000-plus worth of fees owed to the ITA and the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT).

The readmission is already bearing fruit with the junior national team recently participating in the ITF/CAT Junior Championships in Namibia.Mr Musonda said: “To say we are grateful to Ian and Adderstone is an understatement. I wish I could create a word for it. Probably even Ian and Adderstone do not realise how much they have done.

“It has been a long long journey of 12 years of tennis development stagnation, but when I reached out to Ian everything was magic and made our work much easier.

“What they have done will not only improve tennis standards in Zambia but will also improve the health and wellness for thousands of our youths for years to come. They are simply life-saver.”

Baggett was introduced to the ZTA by his former Durham University mentor Peter Warburton OBE on a visit to Zambia with his eldest two children in 2024.

Peter Warburton founded Volunteer Zambia, which has helped deliver dozens of sports-led development programmes since 2004.

During his time as a Geography undergraduate at Durham, Mr Baggett represented British Universities at tennis and in later years went on to represent Great Britain in the 2014 World Seniors Championships.

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He said: “I immediately bonded with Lighton. We were both brought up in mining communities, albeit in different continents, and tennis transformed our lives.

"His passion for improving the life opportunities for Zambian children especially through tennis is both inspiring and infectious.

“Now that we’ve helped steady the Zambian tennis ship, I’m looking forward to seeing the ZTA initiate a comprehensive programme of tennis development across all ages, and across the nation.”

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