The 36th Central Bank of Nigeria Tennis Championship will hold in Lagos from May 7-17 with the champions and finalists in the men and women singles respectively to get N700, 000 and N500, 000 each.
Isaac Okorafor, the Acting Director, Corporate Communication Department of the nation’s apex bank said the championship since inception in 1979, has produced talented players that have flown Nigeria’s flag at several local and tournaments.
He added that the championship, which prize money has increased to N14, 300, 000 from N9, 060, 000 last year, serves as a platform for discovering emerging stars that have represented Nigeria at major competitions such as the Davis Cup and the All Africa Games.
“We are of the view of the timing of this year’s championship would afford the NTF the opportunity to select players to represent Nigeria at the Davis Cup tournament scheduled to hold in September 2014,” Okorafor said.
He also acknowledged the impart made through the introduction of the Wheelchair tennis last year following Nigeria’s winning of the African Championship in Kenya in March which ensured qualification for the World Team Cup from May 24-30. The tournament will serve as qualifier for the event which will feature about 40 countries in The Netherlands.
He reaffirmed the commitment of the CBN’s support tennis with a view to promote and develop the game in line with the financial institution’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme.
NTF President, Engr. Sani Ndanusa, who was represented by the immediate 1st vice president, Yemi Owoseni, commended the support of the CBN stressing that the federation is particularly challenged by the determination of the sponsor’s resolve to the development of the game particularly through the Junior Tennis Initiative aimed at discovering future stars to serve a feeder to the championship.
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