Madueke, who shocked the entire Nigeria tennis scene last year when he defeated tournament favorite Henry Atseye after nearly three hours of fierce exchanges to clinch the Men’s Singles title. may not find it that easy this year following the array of stars that are participating in this year’s edition.
With not less than 300 players registered for this year’s event which started with the qualifiers on Thursday, the men’s singles event will be played in the round of 64-draw chart while the women’s singles competitors will execute their event in the round of 32 draws.
Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, the acting director, the corporate communication department of CBN while briefing sports journalists on the commencement of this year’s tournament, said players will square up in the men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and Women’s Doubles, as well as in the wheelchair men’s singles and wheelchair women’s singles.
Isa said the bank’s management was committed to sustaining the sponsorship of the tournament, which the Bank had done since 1978, particularly as it remains a platform for discovering, harnessing and grooming young talents to represent Nigeria at various international tennis meets.
While tasking participants at this year’s edition to take the opportunity of the championship to show their talents, he said that the competition, over the years, had produced stars in the male and female categories such as Sunday Maku, David Imonite, Veronica Oyibokia-Iwebema, Clara Udofa, Christy Agugbom, Sarah Adegoke and Sylvester Emmanuel, and more recently, Imeh Joseph, Oparoji Uche, Nonso Madueke, Henry Atseye, Oyinlomo Quadri, and Marylove Edwards, among others.
