Nnewi, one of the commercial hubs in south east Nigeria, will be at a standstill today as the ENIC Tennis League commemorates its 25 years of existence with an extravagant Super Four championship.
Nine States on the east of the River Niger namely, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi Rivers, Enugu and Imo participate in the competition
The ENIC Tennis League is a tournament that has four groups for a group stage contest, where teams play at home and away.
Two teams qualify from each group to play the quarter finals which is a one-leg affair at a neutral venue. The semifinalists emerge from this for the Super Four event held for three days which eventually ends with a grand finale.
Dr Kachi Nwoga, one of the organizers of the event, noted that the ENIC Tennis League is the most successful and oldest regional club tournament in Nigeria because it is a very interesting competition.
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While commending the Nnewi Sports Club for hosting the event, he stated that the 25th anniversary will be the beginning of another 25 years and not the end.
“25 years of ENIC makes another milestone for the most successful and oldest regional club tennis tournament in Nigeria. I’m not surprised because ENIC is a very interesting tournament that involves the Tennis Clubs in the 9 States east of the River Niger – Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers.
“The only tournament that holds South-East and South-South together. That’s unique. It is going to be another great event. This year’s edition is happening at Nnewi on 9th to 11th February. When tennis players from South-East and South-South come together, you will always enjoy the atmosphere.
“Part of what we should do in this 25th Anniversary is to rekindle the corporate presence, because Enugu took us high, Calabar took us even higher. We didn’t build from our gains in Calabar. We need corporate interest and without that, we can’t have proper sponsorship.
“We need to go back, find a way to invest our time into that and bring the game to where we had in mind. We have work to do. Nnewi will be the beginning of the celebration of 25 years and not the end.
“ENIC has great potentials and we must remain ever grateful to Cutix PLC. The real deal is the corporate interest. I think ENIC has done very well both in the sports development (with the Youth tournament) as well as the Clubs tournament proper.
“We should simply add more to the economics of it and devise some extra social programmes that can keep us going even beyond the tournament.” Dr. Nwoga, credited for initiating the Super 4 Finals model, offered.