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Portugal winger,
Danny took full advantage of the opportunity presented by an injury to
Nani with a goal and an assist in his team’s 3-0 win over Mozambique in
their final friendly before the World Cup.

With Nani ruled out
of the tournament earlier on Tuesday due to a shoulder injury, Portugal
coach Carlos Queiroz chose the safe option and started Cristiano
Ronaldo on the bench. The 28,000-strong crowd at the Wanderers cricket
ground were disappointed not to see the world’s most expensive player
start, and made the stands shake when he finally came on in the 62nd
minute.

Danny was the
liveliest Portuguese player from the start, linking up well with Deco
and Simao as Portugal missed a host of chances. It was the African
team, however, who came closest to scoring, when midfielder Hagy fired
a thunderous long distance shot that crashed against Eduardo’s post on
40 minutes.

The Portuguese took
control in the second half, with Danny sidestepping keeper Lama after a
Deco through ball to score on 52 minutes. The Zenit player turned
provider in the 75th minute, making a fine assist for substitute Hugo
Almeida to tap in. Ronaldo’s main contribution to the match came in the
83rd minute, when his powerful drive was parried by Lama straight to
Almeida who scored his second with another simple finish.

Portugal begin their World Cup Group G campaign against Ivory Coast on June 15 before matches with North Korea and Brazil.

Though Carlos Tevez
faces stiff competition for a place in Argentina’s attack line, with
six strikers selected in the squad by Coach Diego Maradona, the
Manchester City forward says he is raring to go full throttle in their
Group B opener against Nigeria on Saturday if given the chance.

“I hope to get the
chance to show the coach what I can do even though I know we have great
players and I don’t feel my place is assured,” Tevez told reporters
after his team’s training session in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

The Manchester City
highest goal scorer for last season also went on to state his
unflinching affection playing inside the national colours of Argentina.

“For the national
side, I play for the sheer love of the shirt and not for money,” he
said. “I love this shirt, my country and my people. I couldn’t care
less about the money side as I earn that in Europe.”

Nigeria take on
Argentina on June 12 at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, and the
team would be confronted with the array of stars in the Argentine
squad. For many, the attention is on Barcelona’s wunderkind, Lionel
Messi, who emerged as Europe’s goal king in the just concluded season.

However the likes
of Tevez; Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain; and Diego Milito, scorer of
both Inter Milan’s goals in the Champions League final win over Bayern
Munich, pose as much a threat as Messi.

Between them, the trio netted more than 80 league goals last term for Manchester City, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Currently Argentina’s coach, Diego Maradona is under pressure to
deliver at the World Cup after numerous false starts during qualifying
series; with the highlight being a 6-1 drubbing by Bolivia.

The Super Eagles
are not one of the favourites for the World Cup but the team’s leading
marksman, Aiyegbeni Yakubu, believes he has the ability to emerge the
competition’s highest goal scorer, and win the Golden Boot.

FIFA have always
accorded recognition to the World Cup’s top goal-scorer since the
tournament’s debut in 1930, but it wasn’t until the Espana ‘82 that the
Golden Boot award, donated by Adidas, was handed out to whoever emerged
as the top marksman.

Italy’s Paolo Rossi
won it in 1982 ,while Miroslav Klose of Germany claimed the honour at
the last tournament in 2006. Yakubu now hopes to be the next recipient
of the award that has also been claimed in the past by the likes of
England’s Gary Lineker and legendary Brazilian, Ronaldo.

Speaking on Everton
TV, the Nigerian international, who believes South Africa 2010 will
smash the 147 goals record set at Germany 2006, said: “It is
unbelievable when you hear how many goals were scored but I think there
will be more goals this summer because every country and every player
has improved. The strikers aren’t the only ones who can score goals too
because they can come from midfield and defence. I think there will be
more goals in this World Cup. I would love to be the top scorer. For me
as a striker I want to score goals in a World Cup. It won’t be easy but
I believe in myself.”

Pele’s prediction

Brazilian football
legend Pele, predicted many years ago, that a team from the continent
would win the tournament by 2010. That prediction doesn’t look likely
to come to pass in South Africa as the Super Eagles and the continent’s
other five representatives are not considered among the favourites for
the big prize.

“As a player you
have to believe, and for me I still believe that an African country
will win the World Cup,” said Yakubu. “I don’t know when that will be,
I don’t know if it will be this year or in four years time. I still
believe though that an African nation will win it.”

Expectations

Africa’s best
performance at the World Cup has been quarter final appearances by
Cameroon, in 1990, and Senegal, in 2002. There are great expectations
that a team from Africa will make it to the semi finals, and Yakubu
hopes that playing on African soil will go a long way in making that
dream a reality.

“I think the
African nations have an advantage because there will be a lot of
African people packing the stadiums,” he said. “Hopefully their support
can give us something extra against the other countries. However the
other teams are used to that pressure so the African players have to
give it their best and make our countries proud. We are going to give
it our best and make the people back home happy.”

Decade long career

Yakubu has been
synonymous with the Super Eagles since making his debut in a World Cup
qualifier against Eritrea in April 2000. Ten years later, and with 54
caps to his credit, as well as 20 international goals, the 27-year-old
still derives plenty of joy appearing in the green and white of Nigeria.

“For me, when I am called to play for my country, I enjoy it,” he
said. “I enjoy playing and being part of the team. As a football player
you want to play for your country and it fills you with pride. For me,
my memories of being with the national team have been good and
hopefully we can continue that at this World Cup.”

With two days to
the commencement of the first World Cup in Africa the fever is
spreading and not only the grown-ups are feeling the heat, kids all
over the country are also joining in the frenzy.

Over the weekend in
Lagos, a primary school, Estapore Schools, situated in Gbagada held a
mock World Cup in the school. The surprise was that Nigeria won that
World Cup and a replica trophy to boot.

Proper representation

Speaking to the
head teacher of the class that won, Lola Jibowu, said it was a thing of
joy most especially because, her class depicted Nigeria and won the
trophy. “After all that has been said about the Super Eagles, it was
good that we represented Nigeria well and I hope this will be
replicated in South Africa.” The school played hosts, South Africa and
the 16 classes in total chose countries at random from a pot; Year 3
(Primary 3) drew Nigeria.

Jibowu added that,
“After drawing Nigeria, we were derided as losers as the national team
has been derided and the kids in the class were really downcast as we
were given no chance right from the beginning.” “Fortunately at the end
of it all,

God vindicated Nigeria and I won a free trip to watch matches at the World Cup.”

They called us losers

The competition was
not about football matches but about displays depicting each player in
the countries chosen, missing players and the reasons for missing the
Mundial.

Jibowu was ecstatic about the overall victory. “I believe it was our
presentation to the parents that won us the competition.” When Nigeria
was called as the winner, all of us went mute for about two seconds and
the next thing I knew was I was somersaulting across the field. I was
overtaken with joy. The kids just went gaga, running around with the
Nigerian flag, shouting – “They called us losers but see what God has
done.” It will be a fairy-tale straight from Disney, if Nigeria ends up
as champions of the real 2010 World Cup, but at least for now, Year 3
students of Estapore Schools and their teacher, are World Champions.

Africa as a
collective (perhaps rightfully) is claiming a piece of the glory being
fawned on South Africa for being on the verge of successfully hosting
the World Cup in Africa for the first time. Every superlative should be
ascribed to the hosts for quite a few reasons. Immediately after
liberation from apartheid and their first democratic elections in 1994,
vision with regards to the country’s policy on sports was clearly
demonstrated. They hosted their first international sports event in
1995 by co-staging and winning the Rugby World Cup. They followed it up
the next year by hosting and winning the African Nations Cup in 1996,
and then hosted the Cricket World Cup in 2003 which Australia won. At
least they don’t have the franchise to “host and win.”

Now they are on the
verge of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event for a singular
sport, the FIFA World Cup. Technically, the hosting has started as most
of the teams have already arrived South Africa and at least, all the
preparations of years are being tested in full. However, it will be
appropriate for us to examine key aspects in which they’ve excelled.

Administration/Organisation

They have made the
successful transition from organising and running successful domestic
sports to the international stage. As an effective base for this World
Cup, they have a thriving domestic soccer league with a large
passionate following of the teams. Their matches are broadcast
internationally and promoted like the best thing since sliced bread!
The Local Organising Committee also successfully managed the various
political factions and demands by several more cities to host matches
by spreading the 64 matches across nine of them. The commencement of
the tournament will throw up a few challenges, but the experience
gathered over 15 years should stand them in good stead.

Infrastructure

The government
clearly decided to use the event as a catalyst for massive spending on
badly needed transport infrastructure, as well as beefing up
telecommunications, police numbers and equipment. Their achievements in
this area are highly laudable. South Africa has invested heavily in
constructing new stadiums in Durban and Cape Town, and renovating
others to world-class standards; upgrading roads and public
transportation (trains, buses, signalling and general system-wide
upgrades) to constructing Africa’s first high-speed train system (The
Gautrain Project) that will ease transportation from the OR Tambo
International Airport into the swanky Johannesburg suburb of Sandton
for prices far less than comparisons the world over.

In a speech to the
National Treasury, Deputy Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene stated
that new construction and refurbishment of the 10 event stadiums has
had an R15billion economic impact on the country. Clearly, the
investments have been made with a vision of long-term benefits. There
can be little dispute that the World Cup has already had an enormous
positive impact across South Africa. In the long run, the ‘Rainbow
Nation’ is expectant of a long-term financial boost that will dwarf the
success of the Rugby World Cup hosted in 1995.

Creativity

The event is
observing the expression of creativity to the fullest. There are art
exhibitions like the one in Johannesburg endorsed by FIFA, which
showcases works from contemporary artists from Africa and the Diaspora
during the FIFA World Cup. Organisers hope the exhibit will show South
Africa’s commitment to hosting a truly African event. How about ‘Heroes
immortalized?’ It consists of 32 murals produced by a team of Cape Town
artists; each one paying homage to an international soccer star, as
part of its integrated effort promoting ESPN’s comprehensive coverage
of the 2010 World Cup.

The murals take
inspiration from African street signage and movie posters, and also
contain symbolic Easter Eggs for fans to discover. The world’s biggest
Vuvuzela has also been unleashed in Cape Town! The 35metre horn breaks
the Guinness World Record for size of horns by 3metres and will be
blown each time a goal is scored in the tournament. Some pessimists are
protesting the noise for potential hearing loss. I will round this up
with the imaginative studio built by SuperSport Studios.

Supporting Bafana Bafana

The passion and
building momentum in support of the national team in spite of their
average credentials is also admirable. Today, June 9 has been declared
Bafana Bafana day. All South Africans have been encouraged to come out
waving national flags and wearing colours in support of ‘the boys’
throughout the day. That has translated to increased confidence in the
squad but also heaped added pressure of greater expectation from the
passionate public used to global success.

Fittingly, over the next four weeks or so the attention of the
largest viewing audience the world has ever known will be firmly fixed
on the Rainbow Nation. Not really on these listed achievements but on
the 10 stadiums hosting 32 nations and 736 players focused on lifting
the World Cup on July 11, the last day of competition. Really, the rest
of Africa has a lot to learn from the worthy example set by the South
Africans.

One area of life that continues to grow despite the global economic recession worldwide is the football trade.

In a report
released by Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance on Monday, the
European football market grew to €15.7 billion in 2008/09. The ‘big
five,’ leagues in England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain boosted
revenues in 2008/09 to a collective total of €7.9 billion (N2.8
trillion); up from €7.7 billion (N1.39 trillion) in 2007/08. The
Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 achieved growth across all three major
revenue streams; broadcasting, match-day, and commercial revenue.

Dan Jones, partner
in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “European football’s
continued revenue growth demonstrates an impressive resilience to the
extremely challenging economic times; underlying the continued loyalty
of its fans and the continued attractiveness of football to sponsors
and broadcasters. Unquestionably, football’s biggest challenge is not
revenue generation, but rather the need for much greater cost control;
notably over players’ wages and transfer fees.”

Wage bill growth

The ‘big five’
leagues’ wages increased by €305m (N55 billion) to exceed €5 billion
(N907 billion) for the first time. In England and Italy, wage growth
was greater than revenue growth, putting further pressure on operating
profits. The Bundesliga became Europe’s most profitable league as its
clubs generated increased operating profits of €172m (N31 billion) to
comfortably overtake the Premier League, whose profits fell markedly to
€93m (N17 billion). Serie A and Ligue 1 remained loss making. In Spain,
Barcelona and Real Madrid generated substantial operating profits but
the remaining clubs recorded a significant aggregate operating loss.

Alan Switzer,
director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “Since the new
UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations will first
apply for financial statements ending in 2012, with no sanctions before
2013/14, clubs should have sufficient lead time to adapt but need to
start preparing themselves now. In addition to continuing to grow their
revenues, including through investment in their facilities, clubs must
focus on ensuring their cost base better reflects their revenues and
has sufficient flexibility built in to deal with any revenue shocks.”

The new UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations,
which were approved in May 2010 and applied for entry into UEFA
competitions, will require many European clubs to take action to better
balance their revenue and expenditure. A key part of the regulations is
the ‘break-even’ requirement which, in basic terms, means clubs will be
required to spend no more than they earn after taking into account
certain exempt expenditure. Examples can be made of Portsmouth that
became the first Premiership club to go into administration.

Nigeria will square
up against Argentina on June 12, a day made remarkable by Nigeria’s
former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida.

A good many
Nigerians are running scared of the outcome of that encounter. Given
our history going into the match coupled with the fire power at the
disposal of the Argentines, it is easy to understand why most Nigerians
believe our Eagles are going to have their feathers plucked by Diego
Maradona’s men.

Nearly all my
friends and football fans I have talked to predict a bag full of goals
for the Super Eagles, with many saying Nigeria will trail the South
Americans by at least three goals by half-time. My assurance that that
may not necessarily be the case has been nothing but cold comfort to
them.

I am not scared of
the Argentines. I know they have enough in their arsenal to sink even
the most fortified armada. But as we have come to see again and again,
even the best trained marksmen sometimes miss target.

A history of upsets

As a student of
history, I know that the FIFA World Cup is replete with instances where
even the most formidable squads buckled under the weight of expectation.

The same Argentina
we are talking about went into the 1990 edition of the World Cup as one
of the teams tipped to win the championship (indeed, they went all the
way to the final of that tournament only to lose to a much organised
West German squad) but what did they have waiting for them on the
opening day of the tournament?

The star-studded
Argentine squad boasting among others, Diego Maradona, Claudio
Caniggia, Jorge Burruchaga, Roberto Sensini, Nery Pumpido, and Oscar
Ruggeri, fell 1-0 to an unheralded Cameroonian side with half of its 22
players playing in the Cameroonian league. Of course, that was not the
first time an African side would be humbling a football power house.
Eight years before, their African brothers, Algeria, had scalped
two-time champions at the 1982 edition of the tournament in Spain.

To come back home,
our own Super Eagles stunned the world when they scored three times
against Spain to run away 3-2 winners in their opening group game of
the 1998 World Cup in France. Before that match nobody, not even the
players themselves, would have wagered they would beat the Spaniards
who had gone on an unbeaten run of over thirty matches, during which
they played the top teams in the world.

But we beat them.
Why? For the simple reason that the boys were fired up, and not
necessarily because they were among the finest players in the world.
Then as now, Nigerians felt the Eagles were a bunch of talent but
undisciplined players incapable of accomplishing big things.
Disparaging comments of Nigerians about them filtered to the boys in
France and they were determined to prove a point against Spain and
prove it they did. While the Eagles this time around may be lacking the
quality of the 1998 squad, two factors may work to their advantage.

Keen competition

In the first place,
the competition for shirts in the squad is keener than it had been in a
long while. Lagerback’s late arrival on the scene and the fact that
none of the players in the current team has played under him before,
means that they will go the extra mile to impress him and secure places
in the squad. The game against Argentina will be their first real
opportunity to show the Swede what they are capable of, and this means
they will go full throttle against the South Americans.

The second reason
our boys may not roll over for the Argentines has to do with the
quality of the Eagles bench. Granted that Lagerback has not spent
quality time with the players, the Swede is a wily old tactician who,
having led a squad against the South Americans at the 2002 Korea/Japan
World Cup, will find a way to checkmate them. Pound for pound,
Lagerback is rated a better coach than Maradona, whose unpredictability
may play into the hands of his opponents at the World Cup.

The World Cup is a
coach’s tournament. Yes, the best players on the planet show up there
but left to themselves, they cannot accomplish much. It requires the
genius of the coach to turn them to a winning team. Proof of this can
be found in the inability of Brazil, with their alluring style of play,
to win the World Cup for twenty-four years after their triumph in 1970
in Mexico. Their 1994 squad, which won that year’s edition of the
Mundial, lacked the flair and fluidity of either the 1978 or 1982
squads, but still went on to win the tournament due to the tactical
changes made by coach Alberto Parreira.

So, as we wait for
the Eagles to file out against Lionel Messi and company on Saturday,
let us breathe easy. The worst may not be upon us.

When the World Cup comes around, as a football fan, I want to see the best players on the planet on show.

Managers of
national teams can pick 23 names for their respective squads, so you
would think they would have enough chances to get it right. However,
glancing at the squad lists of some of the contenders, there are many
stars missing and I am not happy about it. Furthermore, some omissions
will be the reason why some of these teams will fail in South Africa.

Let´s start with
Brazil. The five-time champions have probably the best defensive unit
in their history heading into a World Cup, featuring a stellar
goalkeeper in Julio Cesar and players like Maicon, Lucio and Daniel
Alves. However, in attack, there is a shortage of creativity, speed and
flair, and coach Dunga is to blame. The omission of Alexandre Pato is
baffling to me. Sure, the young forward was injured for a large part of
the season and just now returned to full fitness.

However, even with
all the time he spent on the sidelines, the AC Milan standout still
scored 14 goals in 30 games. If I was picking Brazil’s squad he would
be one of the first names on the teamsheet. He offers something no one
else on the team has and, make no mistake about it, he will be missed.

Argentina’s options

Brazil´s fierce
South American rivals Argentina also left behind some notable names.
It’s always easy to pick on Diego Maradona, isn’t it? However there is
no question that Champions League winners Javier Zanetti and Esteban
Cambiasso should both be travelling to South Africa. Maradona´s team
has plenty of talent, but would have benefited from some extra
experience and class. Zanetti and Cambiasso were ever-present for Jose
Mourinho´s Internazionale this season and would have been invaluable
assets at the World Cup.

Zanetti can play
anywhere across defence and midfield, while Cambiasso is one of the
best midfielders on the planet. Even if he would be playing second
fiddle to Captain Javier Mascherano,

Cambiasso would
still have been an important player for Los Albicelestes. Plus, there
is no reason why he couldn’t play alongside Mascherano. Especially
considering Juan Sebastian Veron may be the other starting central
midfielder.

Domenech blunder

Let´s dissect the
picks of another controversial manager, Raymond Domenech. As if the
French public didn’t dislike him enough, the coach of Les Bleus decided
to leave out the nation’s most exciting forward, Karim Benzema. Is he
overweight? Yes. Did he have a great season with Real Madrid? No.
However, some of the other strikers going to South Africa didn’t set
the world alight either and Benzema still has the talent that can
change the game at any time, even coming on as a late substitute.
Domenech definitely missed a trick here and will pay the price. Up
front, France will rely too much on a man who doesn’t have either the
work rate or motivation to lead the line, Thierry Henry.

A changed man

Defending World Cup
champions Italy also left behind a couple of potential game winners.
Antonio Cassano is the obvious example of this. I understand Marcello
Lippi believes the Sampdoria forward can be a disruptive influence on
the team, and up until this season, I would have agreed with him.
However, Cassano is a changed man. His serious relationship with an
Italian swimmer has made him more content and mature and there is no
doubt he would have been a key player for a side that relies too much
on older legs and established names. Cassano would have been a breath
of fresh air that could have inspired the Azzuri to an extended stay in
South Africa. Without him, I don’t see them making it past the round of
16.

So those are my
views concerning a quartet of traditional World Cup contenders; that
this time around will be coming back from FIFA´s showpiece event
empty-handed. For a competition like this, you have to take your best
men. And in my opinion, none of these teams are doing that.

The Super Eagles
continued their preparations for the World Cup with a 3-1 win against
North Korea in Tembisa, Johannesburg yesterday. It was the Swedish born
coach’s third game in charge and Aiyegbeni Yakubu was on hand to open
scoring for the Super Eagles in the 16th minute before Obinna Nsofor
extended the lead from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute. A momentary
loss of concentration between Elderson Echiejile and Joseph Yobo
allowed Jong Tae-Se to pull one back for the North Koreans but Obafemi
Martins restored Nigeria’s two-goal advantage with a 90th minute
header. Martins had only been on the pitch for three minutes when he
scored.

The game, which was
played at the Makhulong Stadium in Johannesburg, was however marred by
a stampede which broke out shortly after the start of the second half.

According to police
reports, at least 20 people, including one policeman, were injured
during the stampede forcing the match officials to stop the game for
around five minutes to attend to the injured and ensure the safety of
fans in the overcrowded main stand where the fencing had been removed.

The match itself
saw Lagerback making a few changes from the side that had played a 1-1
draw with Colombia in their previous game as he restored the duo of
Yobo and Danny Shittu in the heart of the defence with Chidi Odiah and
Taiwo at the right and left side of the defence. Dickson Etuhu and
Lukman Haruna, whose work rate keeps increasing with every game, along
with Sani Kaita who played from the right side of midfield and Nsofor,
on the opposite end, were once again in the middle while Osaze
Odemwingie and Yakubu led the forward line.

Great start

The predominantly
Nigerian crowd at the venue were handed the best of starts after a
sweet interchange of passes between Yakubu and Nsofor ended with Yakubu
slotting the ball into the back of the net.

In the 24th minute
Taye Taiwo’s audacious freekick from well over 40 yards almost proved
more than a handful for the Korean goalkeeper. But two minutes later,
the Olympique Marseille defender almost gifted the ‘Chollima’, as the
North Koreans are known, an equalizer when he was too slow to prevent a
cross across the face of the Nigerian goal by the crafty Mun In-Guk.

The second half saw
Lagerback introducing Elderson Echiejile, Kalu Uche and Yusuf Ayila for
Taye Taiwo, Sani Kaita and the enterprising Dickson Etuhu. Nsofor
almost extended Nigeria’s lead four minutes after the restart but his
deflected shot fell into the hands of the Korean goalkeeper.

Stampede

A minute later, the
match had to be stopped after a stampede broke out in the stands. Five
minutes following the restart, the referee awarded a penalty to the
Super Eagles after a Korean defender inadvertently handled the ball and
Nsofor was on hand to make it 2-0 for Nigeria.

A mistake in
defence however saw Jong getting the better of Enyeama in the 64th
minute, and three minutes later, the Koreans were denied a penalty
after the referee erroneously awarded a free-kick for a foul by Chidi
Odiah. A red card to Cha Jong-Hyok for a second bookable offence
however left room in the Korean defence which Uche capitalised on to
run rings round the backline before crossing for Martins to nod into a
gaping net.

The game was the last warm-up match the Eagles will play before
their opening match against Argentina on Saturday, June 12, 2010.

Winners at the 32nd
edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Open Tennis
Championships have solicited for more competitions in order to improve
their ratings on the international tennis circuit.

Sunday Emmanuel
returned to the winners’ podium over the weekend after displacing his
opponent, Henry Atesye, in two straight sets 7-6, 6-2 to emerge the
Men’s Singles champion; while Fatima Abinu retained her Ladies Singles
title as she defeated surprise finalist, Anuoluwa Aiyegbusi, 6-1, 5,7.

“It was a tough
competition for me but I thank God I came out tops. Right now my aim is
to improve on my international rankings and that means I have to take
part in more competitions in order to gather ATP points” an elated
Emmanuel said after his final match.

Improved rankings

Emmanuel is
currently the highest ranked Nigeria player on the ATP World Tour
Rankings on 1230; he believes he can move up the ladder once he is
given the opportunity of participating in different circuits and future
tennis tournaments around the world.

“Of course I can
improve on my position; all we need is support from the tennis
federation, corporate bodies and the government to take part in
competitions. My aim for now is to make it to the top 700 in the
rankings,” he said.

Similarly, the ladies singles champion, Abinu, also appealed for support for the players to regularly feature in tournaments.

Reacting, the
Nigerian Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Sani Ndanusa, hinted that
the federation will soon officially appeal to CBN so that winners from
the tournament can represent the country in tournaments around the
world.

Over 200 players
participated in this year’s edition of the CBN tennis championships and
over six million naira was shared as prize money by the players.