7th December, 2010
Like the first quarter of the 2010, the second quarter of the year was a busy period for Nigerian tennis.
During the quarter under review, the African Junior Tennis Championship was organised in Abuja. The country played host to more than 200 junior players across the continent. It was also during this period that the 32nd Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Senior Open Championship was organised.
Ten male and female players were the Nigerian ambassadors at the AJC tourney, which was held in April at Package B of the National Stadium, Abuja.
Players like Edward Christopher, Mohammed Mohammed, Emmanuel Idoko and Christian Paul did Nigerian proud in the two-week event that was attended by the president of International Tennis Federation, ITF, Franscesco Ricci Bitti.
The ITF boss used the occasion to call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to put to good use the world standard facilities at the Abuja National by organising regular tournaments to keep the players busy. He applauded the excellent hosting of the AJC by Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF.
It was also in the second quarter of the year that Nigeria went to a woeful outing at the Davis Cup Zone 2 promotional championship in Morocco. The country’s representative of four players could not secure a promotion ticket from Zone 3, as they could not withstand the heat from their opponents in the tourney.
Thirteen countries took part in the championship. The country included Botswana, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Benin, Algeria, Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
The FHA tennis club in FESTAC Town, Lagos, Nigeria held the 10th edition of Ladder Tournament. The week-long championship was put together to showcase tennis artistry among members of the club. Edu Ofoegbu won the Men’s Singles event of the tourney, while he paired with Didimakon Charles to beat Lucky Edovie and Okey Ugboaja to win the doubles’ event of the competition.
The 2010 CBN Open climaxed the tennis activities in the second quarter of the year. A total of N6 million was dangled at the players as prize money in the only surviving tennis championship in the country. More than 200 players registered for the competition, but the closing day of the championship was a glorious day for Sunday Emmanuel and Fatima Abinu who won the Men and Women’s Singles trophies respectively.
Emmanuel, apart from the men’s trophy he won, took home the sum of N600, 000, while Abinu, who defended her Women’s Singles title, was also a proud winner of N400, 000.
The international scene was taken by storm by the American tennis star, Serena Williams, who showed the world that she is not only good at playing tennis, but good at doing other sports.
The former world number one women player was seen at the Miami Beach in the USA playing American football with her friend. This drew the attention of the media who reported the exploit of the younger sister of Venus with glamour.
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