JAMAICA’S World Championships 100m gold medallist Yohan Blake, through his YB Foundation, donated high-tech tennis racquets to sschoolchildren at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston on Wednesday.

The sprinter said the donation is aimed at assisting students and junior players with their development and competitiveness in the sport.

“I have a love for athletics, but I also have a love for other sports (and) that’s why I’m making this donation as I have seen some promising kids playing tennis,” Blake said.

The London Olympic double sprint silver medallist said he was hoping to have made the presentation last December, but noted that the shipment did not arrive in time. But now that the racquets have been handed out, Blake is delighted that the kids can immediately start benefiting.

“I watch a lot of tennis with Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Roger Federer, so I am very proud to be helping with the development of the sport,” he said at the presentation.

Blake said in short order, “I will also be donating badminton racquets to that association and to the young kids”.

Meanwhile, Timothy Spencer, who chairs YB Foundation, said the racquets are high-quality and high-tech.

“These racquets named Babolar are very new ones, and are signed by Nadal. They also come with the instructions… where the players need to read before they use them.

“They also come with a phone and laptop attachments where you can plug them inside the bottom of the handle of the racquet. You then can watch your stroke plays, speed and see the mistakes you produce and correct them,” said the YB Foundation chairman.

The Babolar racquets will be given specifically to the high-performance players, who are more advanced and who are in the juniors rankings.

Tennis Jamaica first vice-president Aswad Morgan was grateful for the gesture, especially coming from a benefactor from a different sport.

“I really thank Blake for giving something back to tennis’s development for the youngsters, and we hope to distribute these racquets across Jamaica. Two of the schools that will receive these racquets are Montego Bay High and Ocho Rios High schools,” Morgan said.

Players from Wolmer’s Boys, Wolmer’s Prep, Manning’s Hill Primary, and St George’s College attended the donations from Blake.

Meanwhile, Blake says he expects to make his seasonal debut at tomorrow’s Camperdown Classic at the National Stadium when he competes in the 400m.

“My time in the 400m this year at training is 46.30 seconds, and I am aiming to improve on that time as I get myself prepared for both the 100m and 200m in upcoming meets,” he added.

Blake said he will also be using tomorrow’s race to get in shape as he seeks to make Jamaica’s team for the IAAF World Relays to be held in Nassau, Bahamas, in April.

“I always love to run against different countries, and as you know Jamaica is tops when it comes to the relays, especially the 4x100m relays, as long as we are fit and well,” he noted.