Tragedy Averted At CBN Open

Tragedy was yesterday averted at the ongoing Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Open tournament holding at the tennis courts of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, when a tennis player, Clifford Enosoregbe, slumped in the dressing room after his quarter final victory over Henry Atseye.

Clifford was exhausted after the match and collapsed when he was trying to clean up but was rushed to the medical unit, where he was revived to partner Nonso Madueke to qualify for the semi final of the men’s doubles.

P.M.Sports scooped that the player only ate gala and drank sachet water before the match and that must have been responsible for his collapse, which caused a scare in the dressing room.

The All Africa Games Gold medallist later showed up smiling with the expression: “I’m fine now, I was just very weak and that was why I went out like that but I’ve taken care of that now.”

Clifford who defeated Henry Atseye 7-6 (5), 7-5 to set up a semi final clash against Shehu Lawal believes that players should try as much as they can to improve on their skills and get better to become worthy competitors.

“Compared to last year, the improvement has not been that glaring because everything looks to me like what we had last year. I think the major change is the prize money for the ladies and that is a plus for them,” he said.

In the other quarter-final matches, Shehu Lawal defeated Taiwo Owolabi 6-4, 6-5 to advance to the semi-final, while Abdulmumuni Babalola, also qualified for the semi-final by outclassing Onyeka Mbanu 6-1, 6-1 in the other quarter-final game.

Nonso Madueke qualified for the semis by cruising past Jonah Samuel 6-1, 6-2 in the last quarter-final match of the day.

In the women’s singles, top seed, Fatimoh Abinu, booked a date with giant-killer, Sarah Adegoke, in the semi-final by seeing off Chidinma Abaa 6-2, 6-0, while Adegoke in her last match strolled over fourth seed Chris

tie Agugbom, 6-2, 6-3.

Enosoregbe will now play against Lawal in the first semi-final,while Madueke will battle Babalola for a place in the Men’s singles finals. The semi-final games will be played today.

—Damilare Okunola