The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) has tasked its players to live up to expectations and improve on their standard of play, as this year’s Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Open Tennis Championship serves off.
Vice President of the NTF, Yemi Owoseni, told TheNiche that the federation would continue to strive very hard in ensuring that the players improve on their play and put up good performance during championships of this magnitude.
He said: “We will continue to impress on the players to put up their best in major championships like the CBN Senior Open, and impress on them that only their best can be good for the country.
“The CBN Senior Open is our major championship in the calendar of the federation, hence we are impressing it on the players to ensure that they put in their best.”
According to him, this year’s edition, which is the 37th in the series, will invariably serve as the platform for the selection of players that will represent Nigeria at the forthcoming Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) in Samoa and the All Africa Games (AAG) in Congo expected to take place between August and September.
The championship has also become a selection ground for the country in preparation for major competitions such as Davis Cup and AAG.
It is worthy of note that the last edition really enhanced the performance of Nigerian players who participated at the Africa Junior Championship in Tunisia where they won the bronze medal and also have been invited to Africa qualifiers for the World Cup next month.
While unfolding plans for this year’s edition of the championship, CBN has announced a total prize money of N14.436 million for the players, with the men’s and women’s singles winners going home with N700,000 while their runners-up will receive N500,000 each.
Also, winners in the wheelchair categories in both the men’s and women’s would receive N250,000 each while runners-up would go home with N200,000.
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.
Prominent among such players are Sadiq Abdullahi, David Imonite, Remi Osho, Sunday Maku, Veronica Oyiboka, Rolake Olagbegi, Clara Udofia, Margaret Olagundoye, to mention a few.
This year’s championship, which served off on Thursday, May 14, with arrival of players from the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, will end on Saturday, May 23, at the Centre Court of the Tennis section of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
