4th January, 2011
President of Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, Engr. Sani Ndanusa, says 2011 will be a year of consolidation for the federation and all stakeholders of the game in the country.
Ndanusa, who is also the President of Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, said the achievement recorded by NTF last year has put the federation under pressure to do more in the New Year.
According to the Vice-President of the Confederation of African Tennis, CAT, the NTF achieved about 90 per cent of its programme last year with the support of the stakeholders, especially the players, officials and sponsors.
“I thank God for a fruitful 2010, because we carried out more than 90 per cent of our programme for the year. I have to thank our sponsors and other stakeholders of the game,†said the Niger State-born sports administrator.
“The achievement we recorded last year has put pressure on us to do more this year and I believe with the support of everybody, we are moving forward to take Nigerian tennis to its greater height in the New Year,†he said.
The president told Tennis Special that some of the major areas of focus this year are the capacity building of coaches and the development of junior tennis.
“We are going to explore the opportunity we have in the schools system to discover and groom young players in the U-12, 14 and 16 cadres. We are also going to focus more on our academy programme. We hope to seek the support of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and various state governments to add more to the two academies we have in Port Harcourt, River State and Kaduna State.
“One area that we made an improvement is on wheelchair tennis. Wife of the former Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, has been doing a tremendous job to ensure that the physically challenged players are not neglected. There will be a major improvement in the competition this year.
“Nigeria will be taking part in the African Junior Tennis Championship, AJC, this year in Egypt. In view of this, we’ll soon open a camp for our players to begin preparation for the qualifying series, which will take place in Ghana between 20-22 January.
“We’ll execute all other programmes lined up for this year. The board of the NTF will meet to deliberate and approve these programmes to enable us begin work on them,†he said.
To whom much is given, much is expected. Godwin Michael, one of the local coaches, who spoke to Tennis Special, said all stakeholders of the game are expecting much from the federation this year.
According to Michael, an ITF graded coach, “there is need for the authority to focus on grassroots tennis, as this is the basic for future development of the game in the country.â€
He noted with optimism that if Ndanusa and his team are serious about going to the schools system as he promised, Nigerian tennis would be better for it in the New Year.
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