Chairman of the caretaker committee of Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Ifedayo Akindoju has reeled out details of the body’s plans for the upcoming national open championship, megasportsarena.com reports.
He disclosed at length various steps that have been taken and are still being put in place to make the competition of huge success that will provide more for the future of tennis in the country.
Among the details revealed by Akindoju include confirmation of total prize money of N6.5m to be won at the competition, which will officially be known as 3rd VEMP National Open Tennis Championship.
The competition, which has the same prize cash of N3, 250,000 apiece for both men’s and women’s singles events, will serve-off on 24th September and run till 2nd October at Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
A total number of 250 players are expected to converge from across the country and battle in four categories of men’s singles and doubles as well as women’s singles and doubles, across three days of qualifiers for 64 male players and females in a round of 32.
ITF bronze-badge referee, Saidu Musa will serve as tournament director in the highly-anticipated contest that will be staged across no fewer than 12 outdoor courts, with the official ball already selected from Slazenger equipment.
The main draw for the respective singles is 32 while the men’s double will be a round of 16 and women’s double a round of 16, ahead of which Akindoju commended the sponsors for their big contributions towards the development of Nigerian tennis.
He added that the competition will be guided by rules, regulations and statutes of International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the NTF’s Code of Conduct, while strict COVID-19 protocol will be maintained, in order to ensure safety during the event that is having a delayed commencement.
The NTF top shot also enthused that this year’s competition will be much better than the second edition in 2019, when Sylvester Emmanuel and Oyinlomo Quadri emerged champions in men and women singles respectively, with both now expected to defend titles this year.
Akindoju posited: “The third edition was supposed to hold last year but it couldn’t due to scheduling issues, but we are glad that the game can go on this year.
“All the players are expected to sign-in on the site and also provide their proper means of identification – National Identity Card or Drivers Licence Or International Passport or Voters Card.
“We have also put up measures to ensure that COVID-19 protocols are observed throughout the duration of the tournament.”
