7th February, 2012
National tennis coach, Rotimi Akinloye, has absolved the Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, of any blame over the dearth of competitions in the country.
Akinloye said the major problem confronting the game in Nigeria is the absence of sponsors to organise competitions.
“The fact that we don’t have enough competitions in the country is not really the fault of the federation. The truth of the matter is that we don’t have sponsors that can promote tourneys for our players,” Akinloye said.
He, however, observed that some states are trying their best to organise competitions in order to promote the racquet sport.
“Niger and Rivers are doing their best in promoting tennis in the country by sponsoring competitions. We have the Lagos Governor’s Cup. These are some of the tourneys on ground for now, but it is not enough,” said Akinloye.
The coach disclosed that the federation will harness the various competitions in order to come out with a programme with the aim of moving the sport forward in the country.
“All we need to do is harness all these competitions in order to come out with a solid programme,” he said.
—Bimbo Ajayi