The Nigerian Tennis Federation (NTF), organisers of the yearly Davnotch Open Tennis Championship, which kicked off at the tennis courts of the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja, at the weekend, have described the competition as one of the biggest nurseries of tennis talents in the country.
 
The NTF said that top-ranking tennis prodigies from within the country and the Diaspora spheres are expected to participate in the event, which ends on July 19.
 
Speaking on the championship, the President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Dayo Akindoju, said that “Davnoth is helping immensely in the drive to encourage budding stars to global visibility and placing Nigeria on the global sports map.”
 
He named Ikenna Okonkwo, who was discovered at the third edition of the tourney and is currently featuring in the ITF J-100 tournament in Mexico en route to Tunisia for further exposure, as an example of how the tournament is helping Nigerian tennis.
 
Akindoju said that there will be a remarkable novelty, where players in the junior cadre will compete to gain relevance and climb the competitive ladder to global exposure.
 
The organisers of the championship described the Davnotch Open Championship as one of the events sponsored by former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, in his efforts to employ sports as a tool for human development.
 
Ochei had previously sponsored the Delta Force Football Club and the Nigeria Wheelchair Basketball Championship, as well as the yearly Onicha-Olona Soccer Unity Cup.