$75,000 up for grab in Tombin Abuja Open tennis tourney

The Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, has announced that a whopping $75,000 is up for grab at this year’s Tombin Abuja Open Tennis Championship.

The tournament which will serve off on May 1 at the Package B of the Abuja National Stadium is an ITF sanctioned tournament and would attract some of the best up and coming players across the world.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja, the technical director of the championship, Ikani Agabi said the competition being sponsored by three indigenous companies Tombin, Dayak and Gladiator Systems will last over three legs and winners of each leg would have $25,000 prize money to share.

He also said apart from the cash prize there would be 35 ATP points for grab at each leg of the championship adding that most of the players would attend the Abuja Open not for the cash but the chance to earn points and improve on their world ranking.

“The Tombin Abuja Open would last over three legs. A leg is usually one week from Monday to Saturday. So the first leg will start from May 1 to 6. The second would be from 8 -13 May that is the Dayak Championship and the final leg will run from 13-21 May and that is the Gladiators Systems Open

“The total prize money for all 3 legs will be $75,000. There will also be 35 ATP points for each of those legs and if you weren’t ranked in the world, you would move from having no ranking at all to becoming ranked in the top 500, if you won all three legs of the competition. It is a very important championship we are having,” he said.

Speaking further on the importance of the championship, Agabi said it is an opportunity for Nigerian players who do not have the wherewithal to travel out for ITF tournaments to play and receive world ranking here in Nigeria.

“It started two years ago with the same motive. I am very pleased to say that two years ago no Nigerian player was ranked in the world but in one day from having no Nigerian player ranked in the world, we had five Nigerian players becoming internationally ranked as a result of the Tombin Open in Abuja.

“The star of that tournament was Nigeria’s Moses Michael who got to the quarter final of the singles and semi-final of the double,” he said.

The technical director also said entries have been received from the USA, UK, Russia, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Togo, India, Croatia, Canada and a host of other countries.

Meanwhile, the sponsors, Bayo Okusanya, CEO, Gladiators Systems Ltd, Edmond Ajoge of Tombin and Ifedayo Akindoju of Dayak all pledged unflinching support to the championship.