Abuja – Sani Ndanusa, President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), on Friday said 50,000 dollars had been set aside in prize monies for both the Tombim and Dayak Tennis Opens.
The Tombim Abuja Open is scheduled for Saturday to April 30, while the Dayak Tennis Championship is for April 30 to May 14, both at the Abuja National Stadium.
Ndanusa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that 25,000 dollars was set aside for each event.
He added that players from 26 countries had already registered for the competition, with those from 21 countries currently in Nigeria.
“The competition has so far received entries from 26 countries but presently, we have here players from 21 countries, including Nigeria the host country.
“We have them from Russia, the U.S., Uzbekistan, Brazil, India, Argentina, Spain, Zimbabwe, Canada, Uganda, Togo, France and Moldova.
“Others are from Ghana, Zambia, Germany, UK, Croatia, South Africa and Nigeria.’’
The NTF president added that, in order to give the home-based players a chance, the organisers have allocated wildcard slots to Nigerians.
“Ten wildcards will be given out, six into the qualifying draw and four into the main draw. However, the allocation will be solely on merit, through a wild card tournament.
“The tournament was played between Monday and Thursday and, so far, Thomas Otu, Moses Michael and Sylvester Emmanuel have qualified for the wild card into the main draw.
“Either Joseph Imeh and Henry Atseye, who are yet to complete their match which was disrupted by rain on Friday, will take the last wildcard slot,’’ he explained.
NAN reports that the ITF umpire for the event will be Patrick Kamuhia from Kenya, with Nigeria’s Saidu Musa assisting.
Six courts will be used for the tournament, with two others for players’ training.(NAN)
