Abuja- The Vice-President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Yemi Owoseni, on Friday said the federation would in 2015 build upon the good number of championships it had in 2014.
Owoseni told newsmen at the ongoing Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Open Tennis Championships in Abuja that the federation held many championships in 2014 and this needed to be improved upon.
“We thank God that we have had more tournaments this year, unlike in the previous years. This shows that the federation is trying hard to organise tournaments for players.
“At least this year we had the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Cup, the Ekiti Governor’s Cup, which is different from the Lagos Governor’s Cup.
“And now we are having this NPA event, which is the maiden edition.
“Then, from here, they (the players) will be going to Kano for the Dala Cup, and before the year runs out we are still looking at another championship.
“This is an improvement from what we used to have. But that does not mean that we have gotten to where we want to be.
“We still hope to build on all these next year,’’ Owoseni said.
On the NPA championships, the NTF vice-president promised that the championships would not lack continuity.
“ We already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the NPA, which is still standing.
“The MoU is for five years and this is the first edition, which means in the next five years, the tournament will still continue,’’ Owoseni said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the winners of the NPA championships’ men and women’s singles titles will receive N300,000 each, while the runners-up will get N200,000 each.
The winners of the men and women’s doubles will get N100,000 each, while the runners-up will also share N75,000 each.
The championships which began on Friday, Nov. 28 will end on Saturday.(NAN)
