The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has expressed satisfaction with the quality of tennis displayed during the inaugural edition of the NCC Tennis League sponsored by the commission.
Speaking at the grand finale of the national tennis league which capped at the weekend at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, Lagos, NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said that the essence of instituting the tennis league to keep the indigenous players busy almost all through the year has been achieved.
“First I want to say that the essence of starting the NCC Tennis League has been achieved. We instituted the league to get our players ready for international competitions and also to raise the bar in terms of quality of tennis we have in our local circuit. We know that once you don’t play regularly, you will become rusty and therefore cannot play against the best in the world,” observed Ojobo shortly before Christian Paul defeated former Nigeria’s No. 1 player, Abdulmumuni Babalola in the first Single’s final to clinch overall victory for Team Tombim of Abuja.
The NCC director hinted that the commission was already in discussion with the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) and the organizers of the league, the International Tennis Academy (ITA) on ways of building a strong tennis culture in Nigeria.
“We are already in touch with the federation to look at ways we can raise the level of participation and also in collaboration with the ATP see how we can make it a point earning competition.
“It is our belief in NCC that Nigeria can raise the Nadals, Djokovics, Serenas, Hingis and the Federers from among our tennis player and the only way we can do it is by providing a platform like this NCC Tennis League where these players can hone their skills,” stressed Ojobo.
President of the NTF, Sani Ndanusa, who was full of appreciation to the NCC for bankrolling the tennis league, called on the sponsors to consider taking the winners of the NCC league on European tennis tour as reward.
“We want the winners to be given the opportunity to go on a European tour. That is, instead of giving them the prize money directly, we will map out their route to Italy, Germany, Sweden, England and Spain, among others, to participate in the European tennis circuit to earn ATP points that will further boost their career.
The maiden edition of the NCC Tennis League which started in April with eight teams playing in two round robin groups in eight different cities of the country ended with fanfair at the weekend with Team Tombim beating Team Civil Defence to grab the N5 million star prize money at stake.
The runner-up, Team Civil Defence got the N3 million while the third placed Team Kalotari of Port Harcourt won N2 million. Team Ogun from Abeokuta got the consolatory N1million prize meant for the fourth place
A total of N11 million was on offer as prize money for the inaugural edition.
Second Republic Vice president, Dr Alex Ekwueme and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi were among the dignitaries that graced the grand finale. – Thisday.
