Nigeria’s capital city Abuja will be agog from October 29 to November 4 as the Puma Engineer ITF Wheelchair Tennis Championship holds at the National Stadium.
It’s the first time that Nigeria will be privilege to host the tournament and this has brought lots of excitement to the local players, though the prize money for the week-long event which would feature men and women is $3, 500.
The championship which is facilitated by Engr. Sani Ndanusa, the immediate past president of the Nigeria Tennis Federation will feature more than 15 Nigerians who will compete for points alongside other participants from at least five other African countries.
Ndanusa told The Point that the championship would serve as springboard to the Nigeria’s readiness to outdo all its major rivals particularly, South Africa, Egypt, Tunisia and Kenya for next years’ African Wheelchair Tennis Championship slated for February in Ghana.
According to the Secretary-General of the Nigeria Wheelchair Tennis Federation, Anthony Idaye, the Nigeria players all featured in the national ranking tournament which ended in Lagos recently where Alex Adewale and Kafayat Omisore emerged champions in the men and women categories.
Meanwhile, Nigerian players stepped up preparations for the upcoming Puma Engineer ITF Wheelchair Tennis Futures in Abuja with about a dozen players featuring in training in Lagos.
The training which was presided by Nigeria’s head coach, Frank Tarmena, had the players work extensively on their movement after returning of serves. They also focused on having spins on their serves to make them gain more advantage against their opponents should their opponents make a slow return.
Leading the players training was the duo of London 2012 Paralympians Alex Adewale and Wasiu Yusuf. Idowu Ajani, Kazeem Akanbi and Mohammed Audu, all of whom are due for action in Abuja were among those that also turned up while top-ranked female player, Kafayat Omisore and her closest rival Chituru Nwazuzu also took part in the four-hour two-session exercise.
Adewale, a former Africa’s number five ranked player and Nigeria’s best player, said the players are eager to take full advantage of Nigeria’s hosting of the tournament with creditable performance.
“We are grateful that a tournament like this is taking place in Nigeria and we are determined to perform well and make Nigeria proud at the tournament,” he said while commending former Nigeria Tennis Federation boss, Engr. Sani Ndanusa for facilitating the championship.
He also disclosed that the former sports minister paid for the registration of all the 15 Nigerians that would be featuring in the
tourney.
