The second edition of the NCC League- a team tennis championship- was concluded last Sunday in Lagos with Kaduna-based Team Offikwu emerging winners after beating 2015 champions, Tombim of Abuja 4-2.
NTF president, Engineer Sani Ndanusa expressed gratitude to the NCC stating that their coming into Nigerian tennis has provided a platform for tennis players to improve and showcase their talents.
He noted that NCC League has also developed interest in the sport and given recognition to top tennis players through the enticing prize money.
“It is worthy of note that the NCC League helped Nigeria to a decent outing at this year’s Davis Cup Euro Africa Group III in Madagascar in July. We were able to retain our place in the group because the NCC League was used as part of our build up for the Davis Cup,” he said.
Ndanusa, who revealed that it is being considered by the NTF that the winning team automatically gets the nod to represent Nigeria at the Davis Cup, also paid tribute to the International Tennis Academy (ITA) which has Godwin Kienka as its Director.
He noted that aside organising the NCC League, which is the first of its kind in Africa, the ITA has helped Nigeria solidify its top rankings in junior tennis in Africa as highlighted by Nigeria’s impressive record in the past few years through its (ITA) several junior programmes.
Team Offikwu received N7 million as prize money, while runners-up, Team Tombim got N5million. Team Civil Defence pocketed N4million for placing third, while Team FCT which finished fourth earned N2million as prize money.
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Caption:
Edwards Christopher, featured for Team Offikwu at the just-ended NCC League.
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