Dala Hard Court: Nigerian tennis needs corporate sponsorship to rise ―Akindoju

President of the Nigerian Tennis Federation (NTF), Engineer Ifedayo Akindoju, has clamoured for corporate sponsorship to raise the standard of tennis in Nigeria.

He made the submission last weekend in his remarks to round off the 31st edition of Dala Hard Court Tournament held at the Kano Club saying aside the support from well-meaning individuals, corporate bodies would help a lot in taking tennis to the next level in the country.

“We need at this time like never before corporate sponsorship, individual sponsorship not just for this level, but also at the grassroots because we need to be grooming new set of players to take over from the crop of players we have now.

“This is the minimum we can be, we can only go up from here. We are rebuilding tennis, and it will take some time but we will come back to our good old days when we used to do very well.

“I’m appealing to all potential sponsors that tennis is a sport that we must play in Nigeria. We have all it takes to play tennis in Nigeria. So, I’ll expect that we put it as part of our corporate social responsibility to support this sport,” said Akindoju, who watched the men’s final of Dala Hard Court where maverick Thomas Otu pipped in-form defeated Joseph Imeh 7-5, 6-4.

Meanwhile, Otu in a post-match interview said his victory did not come on a platter of gold saying he was given a run for his money.

“The tournament is very tough… All opponents are strong. I really feel good. This is my second time I had played in the final in this tournament. I thank God for this year. I have won this competition,” an elated Otu said.