The Central Bank of Nigeria has raised the prize money at this year’s national senior tennis open championship to over N13m.
The apex bank which is the sponsor of the biggest tennis tournament in the country announced yesterday that winners in male and female singles would smile to the bank with N1m naira each.
The break-down of the prize money shows that men’s singles from the first round to the finals would gulp N4.6m, men’s doubles N1.3m, Ladies singles N3.5m, ladies doubles N1.3m just as there is total prize money of N1.5m each for Men and Ladies singles in the Wheel-chair category, bringing the total to over N13m.
The 43rd edition of the championship which begins today with preliminary matches at the package B of the MKO Abiola stadium in Abuja will end on May 29.
The Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi who represented the CBN governor at yesterday’s press briefing said “The objective of the tournament is to create a platform for discovering and grooming of young tennis talents and deploying them for national and international competitions.
“Over the years, the tournament has served as a platform to take talents off the streets. It is, therefore, our expectation that this year’s tournament will be more exciting.”
Nwanisobi who announced an appreciable increment in the prize money also reiterated CBN’s commitment to the tournament and sports development in the country.
On his part, the Chairman of the Care-taker Committee of the Nigeria Tennis Federation, Ifedayo Akindoju lauded CBN on its commitment to the tournament despite the prevailing economic challenges.
He also thanked the sole sponsor of the tournament for increasing the prize money from N700,000 to N1m for winners in the singles events.
Akindoju said winners at the championship will represent the country in international competitions coming up in June.TikiTaka Int’l Nigeria holds scouting programme
