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| Emmanuel Sylvester, one of the players doing battle in Kano |
An appreciable number of the players had last week, vowed not to attend the Dala Hard Court Tourney in Kano. The main reason being their worries over insecurity in that part of the country.
However, Naija Tennis Special can reliably inform that quite a number of players are presently slugging it out in the northern part of the country.
Despite their initial fears, the players proceeded to the ancient city and will prosecute the week-long tournament before returning to their respective residences.
A survey by our correspondent has now revealed the real reasons many of the players still moved all the way to Kano for the First Bank-sponsored event.
One of the players who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that, “I am going to Kano because I want to play the main draw of subsequent national tournaments. The Dala tourney is about the biggest championship in Nigeria.
“Most players will die to attend because it will give us a lot of points to prosecute other senior championships in the country in the course of the new year.”
“The most important thing here is the ranking points. The Dala tournament gives us about the highest ranking points in the country.
“Most players would not mind playing from the preliminaries to the main draws because as soon as they get to the main draws, they amass a lot of points adequate enough for them to play the main draws of the next national tournament which happens to be the CBN Open,” respected tennis coach, Kayode Savage explains.
The assistant national coach for wheelchair tennis further stated that, “the tournament is the one which gives the most prize money in the country. Getting to the main draws is quite good for an average player too because it gives money as well”.
Seidu Musa, a national umpire also confirmed Coach Savage’s sentiments.
The only Bronze-badge umpire in West and Central Africa noted that the Dala Tourney has the biggest prize money, hence the points that it gives out.
“It has the highest number of points of all the national championships because of its prize money. That is the major reason many players will do anything to attend the tournament despite the unrest in the north,” the umpire presently on assignment in Togo noted.