Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

New Tennis Federation president wants Davis Cup in Enugu

By Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
04 August 2017   |   4:13 am
The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) has revealed that it is considering attracting the famous Davis Cup tournament to Enugu, saying that if put together, the competition would attract both local and international stars to the state.

• NCC League opener highlights Babalola, Imeh’s rivalry

The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) has revealed that it is considering attracting the famous Davis Cup tournament to Enugu, saying that if put together, the competition would attract both local and international stars to the state.

The federation added that going by the facilities at the Tennis Section of the Enugu Sports Club, it is highly convinced that the place has the capacity to host such international fiesta, which will be the first of its kind in the South East zone, and Nigeria in general.

Speaking on Wednesday during a reception put together by the Enugu Sports Club in honour of one of its members, Professor Gab Agu, who was recently elected into the board of the federation as the National Vice chairman (South East), NTF President, Dayo Akindoju challenged sports clubs and councils in the country to start investing in tennis, which, according to him, is as lucrative as football.

Chairman of Enugu Sports Club, Chief Ben Etiaba, at the event, expressed delight that Enugu is being considered for the hosting of the next prestigious Davis Cup Tennis tournament coming to Nigeria, assuring that as leader of the club he would do everything within his power to ensure that the NTF is given all the necessary support .

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) 2017 Tennis League opener tomorrow and Sunday at the Abuja National Stadium will further highlight the emerging rivalry between fast rising Joseph Imeh of Team Muller and former national champion, Abdulmumuni Babalola, of Team Civil Defence.

Babalola and Imeh met in the finals of the prestigious CBN Senior Open Championships a couple of months ago with the ‘veteran’ winning 6-3, 6-4 in a match the youngster, playing his first ever senior finals, failed to find the form that took him to the championship match.

“I think it is going to be different this time around” said Imeh, dripping sweat from a heavy workout. “The team championship is usually different for me because I tend to play my best game. Last year I beat Sylvester Emmanuel in Kaduna and won all my singles matches,” Imeh said.

0 Comments