The Benin Centre of the ongoing TPPA-UTR Regionals had to change the venue for their event at the last minute over an incident that disrupted their activities.
Nigeria Tennis Live gathered that the coaches and some of the players were at the Stadium in Benin, preparing for the event when one of the Masts fell in the premises resulting in serious pandemonium.
Coach Nosa, the coordinator from the region, told our correspondent that the incident forced them to change the venue to the facility inside the University of Benin.
“We thank God that we are safe and are able to still gather the kids. We will be moving them to the University of Benin for the tournament and ensure we finish off there.
“We cannot use the stadium anymore, our chairman already asked us to move them from the Stadium,” she revealed.
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At the Abuja centre, there were almost 60 players according to Coach Isiaka Oshioke, the coordinator of the region.
He confirmed that there were a couple of first timers at the event, with the boys and girls U-12 categories having a lot more than other categories.
According to him: “We are in the semis now. We didn’t have newcomers in the girls U-14 category but in the 12 and Unders, we had six new entries.
“We round up tomorrow (today) with the semis, 3rd place and 1st place finals. We also received donations of canvas for winners in all the categories from Glamourfit Sports based here in Abuja.”
At the Ilorin centre, it was a season of new and interesting discoveries with Ishola siblings clashing in the event while new youngsters emerged.
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Some of the standout players from the centre include Khalid Raheem, Mohammed Jamiu Abdulakeem, Rejoice Adeniyi and Samuel Akinrinade who came from Offa.
According to Coach Tosho, who coordinated the region, the Rejoice, the youngest female player at the event, gave an account of herself even though she lost.
“When I say she played very well, she played really well even though she lost. But you see that boy Samuel from Offa, he was really good.
“He arrived at about 12noon, rested for about 20 minutes and got on the court to play immediately. He played three matches and won all three matches, and he played very well.
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“There’s also Abdulakeem, he’s our star in Kwara State, he won his three matches as well as Khalid the great from Osun State,” he explained.
Action will serve off at the Owerri centre of the TPPA Regionals today while the competition will be reaching its climax in Kano on Friday evening. In Ibadan, some students were introduced to the game of tennis during the championship.
According to Coach Tirimisiyu, “we just brought them to watch and to introduce them to the game of tennis as a sport. Hopefully, we can get one or two who might be interested over time”.
In Lagos, the TPPA-UTR tournament will reach the semifinal stage on Friday with the final scheduled to take place on Saturday, 22 February, 2025.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep all our readers updated on the activities from different regions as the first stage of the competition reaches a conclusive end.