The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a total prize money of N14, 436, 000.00 for this year’s edition of the CBN Senior Open Tennis Championship.
According to the Director, Corporate Communications Department of CBN, Ibrahim Mu’azu, who was represented at the unfolding of plans for this year’s championship which will hold at the Tennis Courts of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos from May 14 to 23, by James Iyari, Branch Controller, CBN Lagos, winners in the Men’s can Women’s categories would go home with N700, 000.00 each while the runners-up wo9uld have N500, 000.00 each.
There are other prizes for the various stages of the Men’s singles, Men’s doubles, Women’s singles and Women’s doubles as well as the prizes for the winners of the Wheelchair tennis.
He said: “The championship since its inception in 1979, when Francis Kehinde Ajayi emerged as the first winner, has produced gifted players that have flown the national flag at several local and international tournaments.
“The championship has also become a selection ground for the country in preparation for major competitions such as Davis Cup, All Africa Games among others.
“It is worthy to note that the last edition really enhanced the performance of our players who participated at the Africa Junior Championship in Tunisia where they won the bronze medal and also have been invited to Africa qualifier for the World Cup next month.
According to him, this year’s edition which is the 37 in the series will invariably serve as the platform for the selection of players that will represent Nigeria at the forthcoming Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa and the All Africa Games in Congo expected to take place in August/September this year.
He added that the CBN Junior Tennis tournament, a development initiative that is engineered by the Bank in collaboration with the International Tennis Academy (ITA), Lagos is open to Boys and girls within the age groups of 10 and 18 and serves as a feeder to the senior championship.
It will be recalled that this year’s edition of the Junior tournament, the ninth in the series, was held from April 20 to 25 at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club (LLTC), Tafawa Balewa Square.
In line with the developmental objective that the CBN has for the game of tennis in Nigeria, the winners in the ‘18’ category are expected to contest in the Senior tennis championship.
