CBN Open: A Season Of Injuries

With the 35th edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Senior Tennis Open ending on Saturday and the winners are still basking in the euphoria of their victories, the championship will go down memory lane as one in which players retired easily in the course of their matches.

At the end of the first round where 32 matches were played, seven cases where players retired were recorded; two matches in the second round, three in the third round, one in the quarter-final and one in the final match.

With a total of fourteen matches ending in ‘crashes’, as the term the players giving to the scenario, the tournament might not have been a true test of strength of the players.

One of the players who retired in the course of his match was Ganiyu Yusuf. He who won the first set 6-4 against Clifford Enosoregbe in the first round encounter, but lost the second set 0-6 as he had to retire in the final set at 0-5.

His complaint was that “I got to know about the tournament a few weeks before it served off and my preparation level was very low. It affected my performance and I had to bow out when I got so tired.”

If Yusuf pulled out of the tournament as a result of fatigue, it goes to show how bad the injury was and how much he valued his life.

For the country’s former number two players, Augustine Nwokedi, it was also fatigue and lack of good preparation that made him retire in the final set of his due against unknown Emmanuel Sunday.

The Turkey-based tennis player said that Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, should do something drastic about the game before things get worse.

“I was disappointed that tennis is still in this state in Nigeria because I left the country due to poor development and I’m back here with situation not changing for good.

“I played in the tournament because I was in the country. For the players to get notification for a tournament like CBN Open within a short notice shows how backwards we still are. I had to pull out of my match because I was feeling very weak and couldn’t move properly again as a result of exhaustion. I think something has to be done about tennis in the country,” Nwokedi said with anger.

Another player who hinged the problem which most of the players faced in the tourney was Taiwo Owolabi.

He maintained that playing in the championship was good for the players but the notification came at a time when they were not expecting it.

He said: “I got to know about the tournament very late. I played because I thought I was adequately prepared. Injury however prevented me from making a considerable impact in the competition.

“We usually play the tournament in May, some of us were surprised when we heard that this year’s competition would hold in April.” Even the medical team of the tournament would not disagree with the players as they also confirmed that fatigue was responsible for many of the players giving up their fights in those matches.

In her own submission, Head Physio of this year’s CBN Open, Mrs. Nwachukwu Ada, explained that majority of the players suffered muscle soreness and cramping due to fatigue and the harsh weather. She however posited that the weather wasn’t supposed to be an excuse.

Mrs. Nwachukwu also noted that many matches which the players played might have been responsible for the injuries sustained.

“The rainfall on Wednesday really made the fixtures congested on Thursday and players had about four matches that day. This really affected them,” she said.

This was also an excuse giving by finalist, Clifford Enosoregbe, who got injured in his match against winner, Henry Atseye.

Enosoregbe said that playing about four matches in a day might have been responsible for the so many ‘crashes’ throughout the championship.

“I know that the players had to play about four matches in a day at a point and that was coupled with the fact that the notification for the tourney came too sudden,” he said.

Former champion, Veronica Oyibokia reasoned that the players were victims of the dearth of tournament in the country, wondering why they have to play the first tournament of the year in May.

“The CBN Open came abruptly without an earlier organised championship for the players.

“If this tournament is the first this year, then you should expect cramping and muscle tears from the players because match situation is quite different from training,” she explained.

President of the federation, Engr. Sani Ndanus, would only agree that the poor performance of the players was caused by rainfall which disrupted earlier plans put in place by the federation.

In his words: “I believe that rain marred the glamour which this year’s championship would have recorded.  We had more participants this year than in the previous years. We had a hitch-free championship because we did not receive any complaint from our sponsor,” Ndanusa said.

The Nigerian Olympic Committee President was happy that the tournament produced new winners this year.

—Damilare Okunola