By Albert Akota
34 players from seven different categories of the 2022 DavNotch National Open Tennis Championship will battle for the sum of Nine Million, Two hundred and eighty thousand naira (₦9.2m) as the game serve off in Abuja over the weekend.
Men Singles and Ladies Singles winners will go home with Five hundred thousand Naira (₦500,000) each while Champion from Men Doubles and Ladies Doubles receive Two hundred thousand Naira. Winners from Men and Ladies Singles in WheelChair category will earn N150,000 each. However, six winners from each categories including the First Round players smile to bank for their Cash prizes as all registered players are entitled to subsidy of N15,000.
Apart from the monetary prizes, Winners from the Ladies singles and WheelChair categories will represent Nigeria in International tournaments.
Not fewer than 352 tennis players registered for the second edition of the tournament.
Dayo Akindoju, President of Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) while addressing the media at the Moshood Abiola Stadium Abuja on Friday, thanked the sponsor, DavNotch Ltd, and assured Nigerians that the tournament will produce new talents where winners will represent Nigeria at the international competitions. He was hopeful that the players will have better performances than what they did last year.
“We appreciate DavNotch for sponsoring this competition. This is the second edition and they promised that the sponsorship will last for five years. Champion of Ladies Singles in the maiden edition, Oyinlomo Quadre and winners in the WheelChair Category represented Nigeria in different International tournaments where the country participated for the first time. We believe that those who will represent Nigeria this time will do better.
Also speaking, Director of DavNotch, Emmanuel Ochei, stated that the company will continue to sponsor the tourney for the next Five years adding that the aim is to engage the Nigerian youth positively.
“We had a successful tournament last year and the programme would be sponsored for five years. We want to engage the Nigerian youth positively in area of sports. We hope that more talents will be discovered. The sponsorship is borne out of the passion we have for tennis but not on the value we will get back. It is aimed at helping youth to reach the highest level of their careers.” He concluded.
The tournament which serves on Friday May 6 will end on May 14, 2022
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