THE National Stadium, Abuja, remains the place to be this weekend as two of the best teams in the land, Team Civil Defence of Abuja and Team Offikwu of Kaduna battle for the second semi-final ticket of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Tennis League Cup.
Given the pedigree of both teams, the fixture has been dubbed by tennis addicts as “final before the final”.
Four games {two men’s singles, ladies singles and men’s doubles} will be decided on Saturday, December 2 with the remaining three games {two men’s reverse singles and mixed doubles} to be played on Sunday, December 3.
Title holders of the NCC Tennis League Cup, Team Offikwu parade enterprising youngster Sylvester Emmanuel, reigning CBN Senior Open women’s singles champion and Nigeria’s number one, Sarah Adegoke, currently campaigning in the ONG PLAY YOUR GAME Tennis Open in Benin Republic. The Kaduna Landlords also boast as former national champions – Henry Atseye and Shehu Lawal as well as rising star, Oyinlomo Barakat Quadre.
The Kaduna side topped the White Group unbeaten as they saw off Team Tech Vibe 6-1, Team Yetade 7-0, Team Ndoma-Egba 5-2, Team Goshen 5-2 and Team CBN Futures 7-0.
On the other hand, 2015 NCC Tennis League Cup finalists, Team Civil Defence parade reigning CBN Senior Open men’s singles champion, Abdulmumuni Babalola; former national champion, Clifford Enosoregbe; two-time Dala Hard Court women’s singles champion Christie Agugbom as well as veteran Nonso Madueke and enterprising Michael Chima.
After the 3-4 home loss to Team Muller, the Abuja Defenders went on to win their remaining four group games at the expense of Team Oluyole {7-0}, Team VGC Lions {7-0}, Team Optiwebb {6-1} and Team Kalotari
{4-3} to finish second in the Blue Group behind Muller of Lagos.
“We really want to defend our title but the semi-finals fixture against Abdulmumuni Babalola, Clifford Enosoregbe, and Christie Agugbom will be tough,” Emmanuel, who is in the quarter-final of the ongoing ONG PLAY YOUR GAME Tennis Open in Benin Republic said.
The fixture would witness a number of matchups – as the clash between Agugbom, who lost her Dala Hard Court title in Kano last weekend and reigning Rainoil/Ikoyi Club Masters singles champion, Adegoke, who was also beaten in Kano by Blessing Samuel serves as one.
Abuja matchups include the tie between Babalola and his age-long doubles partner in national tournaments, Shehu Lawal and the clash between youngster Emmanuel and Enosoregbe.
However, Emmanuel, might only feature in the men’s reverse singles scheduled for Sunday, except he returns early enough from Benin Republic.
Speaking ahead of the Abuja showdown, Director of the International Tennis Academy (ITA), Godwin Kienka said, “The tie would be two days of the best tennis that is possible in Nigeria…”
It will be recalled that Team Muller early this month at the Enugu Sports Club outplayed Team Ndoma-Egba 5-2 to grab the first ticket.
Meanwhile, the third place match of the NCC Tennis League Cup will be decided at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Race Course, Onikan, on December 7 and 8 ahead of the finals scheduled to hold on Saturday, December 9 and Sunday, December 10 at the same venue.
The winners will take home N7million as prize money as finalists settle for N5million, while the third and fourth-placed teams go home with N3million and N2million respectively.
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