NCC boss, Danbatta approves N23m for commission’s 2017 Tennis tournament

Ahead of this year’s Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, Tennis tournament, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof Umar Danbatta, has approved the sum of N23m for the Commission’s 2017 tournament.
Danbatta who disclosed this at the unveiling of the 2017 tennis cup in Lagos, said that the competition will be held across the country with 12 top teams participating.

The NCC boss who was represented by the director of special duties, Mrs Iyabo Sholanke said that this year’s competition will be having same prize money as last edition.
Mrs Sholanke said, “Therefore, the winning team will receive N7 million, the second best will go home with N5 million, the third will receive N3 million, while the fourth will earn N2 million for their efforts, the number of participating teams have also increased from 10 last year to 12 for this edition and all the teams will receive the sum of N500 000 each to support their preparations for the tournament.”
The NCC boss said the tournament has featured Nigeria’s best tennis players including foreign based players. He also went on to say the quality of the players is of high caliber.

He said, “As you are already aware, NCC tennis cup is a team tennis competition open to all, including the very best male and female tennis players in Nigeria.
We are proud that this tournament has the best and promising Nigeria female and male tennis players who are equally as excited as we all are.”
”In the past two years, 10 players from this competition have received ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals, (ATP) he said.

”The objectives of NCC in the sponsoring of the competition is to give recognition to top tennis players through prize monies, empower them to launch professional careers abroad and attracts professional coaches to train and work with them as a squad according to him.
“It is worth repeating that choice to sponsor this tournament was guided principally by our commitment to be socially responsible and to invest in the development and sharpening of skills of our citizens who would develop to the point of making living out of this sport and doing the nation proud by winning laurels,” he added.
NCC tennis cup increases competition among players, which is an added advantage when it comes to preparation for other competition within and outside Nigeria.