THISDAY

AHEAD OF LAGOS OPEN

Ambode Hosts Over 125 Players from 47 Tennis Playing Nations

- Femi Solaja

With less than 10 days to the commenceme­nt of the annual tennis festival in Lagos, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwumnmi Ambode is set to play host to more than 125 players from core 47 tennis playing nations across the world.

The Lagos Open Tennis Championsh­ips, according to the Tournament Director, Wale Oladunjoye will get underway from 29th of this month to13th October, 2018 at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.

Lagos Open Tennis, which is still under the auspices of the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Open is going through a transition to enhance Lagos and make the tournament better.

He explained last night that Lagos State Government is still a major supporter as the Lagos Open Tennis is an internatio­nal competitio­n being staged to celebrate the sitting Governor of Lagos State since the administra­tion of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Mr. Babatunde Fashola and now the incumbent Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.

Thisday check in the breakdown as published by the Internatio­nal Tennis Federation (ITF) shows that 60 players have registered in the men’s event, while 65 players will compete in the women’s category. Players from notable 47 nations like USA, Brittan, Slovakia, Kenya, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerlan­d, China, Cameroon, India, Germany, Italy, The Netherland­s, Ecuador, Poland, Thailand, Egypt, Serbia, Mexico and a host of others have confirmed participat­ion.

This year’s Internatio­nal Tennis Federation (ITF) approved championsh­ip will see some regulars while majority of the players are debutants and are looking forward to have a feel of Lagos for the first time in their playing career.

Former champion in the women event, Conny Perrin from Switzerlan­d is staging a comeback. She is coming as the top seed with a high rank of 148 on the ATP Circuit. Perrin was a champion in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 editions.

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