Any player who falsifies his age to compete in age grade competitions will get a minimum of four-year ban from competing in Nigeria, Nigerian Tennis Live has gathered.
To this end, the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) is organizing a ‘Play Your Age’ tennis tournament in December to eradicate age falsification by Nigerian tennis players in every age grade competition.
This much was revealed by the president of the federation, Engr. Ifedayo Akindoju, when he was addressing some Nigerian coaches after the successful completion of their two-day training with Spanish instructors at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan on Saturday, 21 October, 2017.
The tennis administrator who doubles as the sponsor of the annual Dayak Open (an ITF Futures in Abuja), noted emphatically, that it was time Nigeria moved away from the era of age falsification which often reduces the ‘life span’ of a player’s relevance in the sport.
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| You cannot be playing against people of lesser age and be called champion, that must stop! Engr. Akindoju says as he addressed the coaches in Lagos over the weekend. |
“You cannot be playing against someone who’s lower than your age and be called champion, that has to stop,” he asserted.
“The reason we are organizing this ‘Play Your Age’ exercise is basically to get rid of age falsification and ensure that we have U-12s playing U-12 tournaments in the country and others in their respective categories.
“And if after that exercise, players still falsify their ages, they will be banned for a minimum of four years from competing in Nigeria.
“Birth certificates will be taken and the players’ passports can be reworked if there are cases where ages of these players were falsified in the past. Any foundation built on falsehood will not stand, that’s why we have to review all these players’ ages,” Engr. Akindoju, a passionate tennis lover, sounded to the hearing of the coaches.
As at the time of filing this report, the date for the tournament had not been announced but the president confirmed that it will hold early December.
Nigerian Tennis Live will monitor the build up to the tournament and file a report as soon as a date has been confirmed.