12th December, 2014
Damilare Okunola
P.M.NEWS Sports can authoritatively report that teenage tennis stars have been penciled down to feature at the inaugural Ikoyi Tennis Masters.
Angel McCleod, Sylvester Emmanuel, Joseph Imeh, Emmanuel Idoko are among the youngsters expected to prosecute the event alongside their senior counterparts.
According to the organisers of the event which will feature top Nigerian tennis stars in Lagos, the idea of bringing the youngsters is to enable them blend with their senior and more experienced colleagues.
Speaking on Thursday, during the press conference to officially announce the modalities for the tournament, Tournament Director, Mr. Thomas Olorundare, “this is an inaugural tournament which we plan to host every year.
“The top players will be present here as well as the younger ones because we want them to rub minds and shoulders with the very best in the country”.
Speaking also is Mr. Ede Osemwengie, Chairman, Ikoyi Club 1938 Tennis Section, who disclosed that, “the initial idea was to kick start the sponsorship with savings from all the tournaments held in the section.
“However, we were very honoured to have Rainoil Ltd. come in at a very short notice as a major sponsor of this event. We are very grateful to the Chairman/ CEO of Rainoil Ltd., Mr. Gabriel Ogbeche for a wonderful support towards making this event a huge success.
“The players qualified based on their standing on the national ranking system and being a very gender sensitive organisation, the men and women winner will earn the same prize monies and bonuses.
“The winners will get N250, 000, Runners-up N150, 000 and Semifinalists N100, 000 each. There will be a qualification bonus of N25, 000 for all players including the alternates and a round winning bonus of N5, 000 for each match won in the round robin stage”.
The players will also be accommodated at Lakeem Suites for the duration of the tournament as the organisers informed as well.
Meanwhile, Tournament Coordinator, Godwin Kienka, has disclosed that there would be a Junior Masters holding almost concurrently with the Senior Masters.
He explained that the junior players would be opportune to watch the seniors after their own matches in the morning.
According to the Director of the International Tennis Academy, ITA, “the Junior Masters will hold from 9am-12noon daily while the Senior Masters starts by 4:30pm daily. So we want the junior players to always come around to watch these top players.
“We want these youngsters to be motivated and aspire to be greater than their seniors, that’s why we want them to watch them every evening after their own matches. It will be an invaluable experience for them”.
Clifford Enosoregbe, Abdulmumuni Babalola, Henry Atseye, Candy Idoko, Lawal Shehu, Christie Agugbom, Sarah Adegoke, Blessing Samuel, Osareimen Airhunwunde, Aanu Aiyegbusi, Ronke Akingbade and Loveth Donatus are other players expected to prosecute the year-ending tournament.
The Ikoyi Club Tennis Masters will hold from Tuesday, 16 December- Saturday, 20 December, 2015 at the Tennis Section of Ikoyi Club 1938.