Arrangements for the Dr. Alex Ekwueme under -18 National Junior Tennis Championship have reached advanced stage even as the competition is? expected to kick off at Enugu Sports Club from 8th to 12th October, 2012.
Briefing newsmen on the upcoming event, chairman of the? Organizing Committee, Chief Ben Ezeibe, stated that the championship would attract 32 top junior tennis players from across the country.
According to him, the competition would be part of the activities to mark the 80th birthday ceremony of the distinguished elder statesman and former Vice President, Dr. Alex? Ekwueme.
He appealed to the Nigeria Tennis Federation and the Sports Councils in the south-east zone to use the opportunity of the tournament to launch aggressive tennis programmes that would take the game to tennis to the next level.
Ezeibe stated that this was necessary because of this conviction that there “is big money in the game of tennis at the professional level where over one billion U.S. dollars is carted away by successful tennis players yearly all over the world.”
The chairman of the organizing committee, who was a former board member of Nigeria Tennis Federation, said at the event, which was being put together and sponsored by Ekwueme’s loyalists and associates to appreciate the elder statesman’s love and passion for the game of tennis.
His words “Dr. Ekwueme had the vision that hidden talents would be discovered during the event, and groomed for the national and international competitions”, he said.
According to Ezeibe, the committee had already gotten the approval of the president of the Nigerian Tennis Federation, Alhaji Ndanusa for the event that would be a yearly competition, adding that the selection would be based on national ranking.
“Actually, we are sending out invitations to various sports councils in the country for participation,” he added.
On Ekwueme’s contributions to the growth of the game of tennis in Nigeria, Ezeibe explained, “Recently, he was invited to Wemblydon where he watched the finals of Serena Williams; that was last month. So he has actually been involved in tennis development.
“So we have decided to honour this great man of Africa and Nigeria by putting up a tennis tournament in his honour. We also plan to make the tournament a yearly event. I feel that the Tennis Associations, the Sports Councils in the southeast as well as the Nigerian Tennis Federation, will take the advantage of this tournament to do something positive to enhance the game; because as I said earlier, there is a lot of money in professional tennis and Nigeria is yet to be a part of it. I know very well that over one billion dollars is always up for grabs yearly by international tennis professionals. And that’s big money, I think our youngsters should actually queue up to be a part of this money making event.” He added
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