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The
reality is that Nigerian tennis has generally been in a steady decline.
But when it comes to women’s tennis, the decline has been cataclysmic.
Right now, there are no female players on the WTA rankings – the men
still have some players in the 1000s. This became more glaring to
observers at the Futures tournament, also known as the Governor’s Cup,
which is currently in its 10th edition. At the first leg of the
tournament, the likes of Fatima Abinu and Blessing Samuel were at least
able to get to the second round but at the second leg, they all failed
to go beyond the first round.

Bad players or just unprepared?

Blessing Samuel attributed some of the defeats to the fact that they met better players.

“I think the
opponents we faced in the first round of this second leg were tougher
than the ones we faced in the first leg. That was why we could not last
long. We prepared as best as we could and we went out to play but our
opponents were better,” she said.

Good preparation amounts to participating in a tennis circuit with lesser tournaments before major ones like the Governors Cup.

Thompson Onibokun,
Chairman technical Adviser of the Governor’s Cup and a former coach,
said “If the player had been playing regularly in tournament type
events, it helps to improve the player. Over time and with the help of
her coach, she would have been able to overcome or at least deal with
high pressure matches, which was the reason most of the female players
were not able to withstand their opponents.

The problem could
also come from too much pressure from home fans’ expectations which is
a normal thing in life but especially in sports,” he said.

The number one
woman tennis player on the local scene, Fatima Abinu, attributed her
own loss of form to pressure. “I don’t know about other athletes but
for me it was pressure that caused me to lose my game. I felt I needed
to win,” she said.

“I think the need
to win made me to lose focus from the game and I did not study my
opponent well enough and I allowed her to get the better of me”.

Onibokun said a lot of players are unable to handle the pressure.

“Like the player
who said she was under pressure, it is possible for it happen if such a
player believes that the expectations are high. Such a person may not
be able to cope,” he said adding that it should not be so.

“If the player had
been playing regularly in tournament type events, it helps to keep the
player cool. Over time and with the help of her coach, she would have
been able to overcome or at least deal with such pressure. Such is able
to cope with such pressures”.

Blessing also gave other reasons for the decline in the woman’s game.

“Many of the ladies who play tennis do not take it up at an early age. So when they start,

they actually find
it a bit difficult. I count myself lucky to have started out early. My
father was a tennis player and now a coach, so I developed interest for
the game early.”

Playing the circuit for experience

Another coach, Peter Osagie, who was also a tennis player, agrees that a player needs exposure to improve on his game.

“When they go to
tournaments, even if they don’t win, they are able to bring back
experience that no amount of training can give. It gives confidence and
you would not be feeling that somebody is better than you are. There is
nothing like playing with other players and experiencing what is going
on,” Osagie said.

One thing that has hampered the athletes getting the needed exposure has been inadequate resources.

“Many Nigerian
players do not have the wherewithal to take themselves to enough
tournaments and that in itself can affect the athletes psychologically.
When you know you have needs, [it] is enough to weigh you down,” Osagie
added.

The need for discipline

Apart from the need
for exposure, Osagie said many of the athletes need to be disciplined.
“No matter how skilled, you still need discipline to make it to the
pinnacle of whatever endeavour you choose. It is discipline that keeps
you at the top,” he said.

Asked if the coach
does not have a part to play in instilling discipline in the athletes,
Osagie said, “Though the coach has a part to play, I believe discipline
is something an individual needs to work on. When we used to play, we
had coaches but now, most of the players feel they do not need coaches
and this shows a form of arrogance. Even the ones who decide to have
coaches want the coaches to train them for free. Is it possible for one
not to reap where he has sown?”

“In the past, the
system was that you share with your coach whatever proceeds you get at
tournaments. The player takes 70% while the coach gets 30%. Now it is
not so. The players want to get all. They have forgotten that a coach
also impacts on their performance”.

Defying the odds

Many believe that the game can be improved despite the odds.

“The will to excel
is first and foremost the most important. Most times when we train
athletes we are able to judge their potentials. However, the most
saddening thing is that most times, the athletes get to the court and
plays below that potential,” Onibokun said. “They do not put up a fight
and you know that it so disappointing when you have faith in some one
and he cowers just because he feels a player is better than he is. When
there is no fighting spirit, how do want to encourage sponsors? You
don’t have to always win but you should play to the best of your
potential.”

Osagie on his part
said everybody has a role to play. “Though the Nigeria Tennis
Federation has a part to play, for example they endorse players from
Nigeria; they are not the only ones who should sponsor the players.
Some of the players you see here started on their own but somehow, some
people saw them and started supporting them. Our players should not
just wait for somebody to do all the work. They should start somewhere.
When somebody sees their effort then, they can help them,” he said.

Osagie is unhappy with people who make promises without keeping them.

“During the finals
of last year’s Governor’s Cup, Governor Fashola promised that he would
sponsor about eight of the athletes but up until now, we have not seen
anything. It is usually not good for the athletes because their hopes
are subsequently raised and then it is dashed.”

He however believes that the governor must have a reason for not keeping his promise.

“When he comes this year, we will take it up with him on the reasons why he has kept the athletes waiting”.

James
Johnson is a young man in need of help. Until a few years ago, he was
part man, part woman having been born with the genitals of both sexes.

However, for years
James operated as a woman called Iyabo. It was in that state that we
met some years ago precisely in the mid 1990s when as Iyabo, he played
club football for Rivers Angels Football Club of Port Harcourt, the
same club my younger sister, Nkiru, played in.

Iyabo was as good
as they come, simply Sui Generis. There was no striker in the women’s
game in Nigeria that could hold a candle to her. So prolific was she
that every season she accounted for half the number of goals Rivers
Angels recorded.

Such a performance
inevitably raised questions and then finally, tired of being in a
woman’s body Iyabo decided it was time to become a new person. About
four years ago, after struggling to raise money, she went to the United
States of America and underwent a sex change operation, emerging from
the surgeon’s knife as James Johnson. The operation was financed by
Nasir El-Rufai, then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

That operation
however, was not final. Doctors said Johnson needs to return to the USA
for what they termed completion surgery. Without this, he will struggle
with health concerns all his life. Since then, it has been extremely
difficult for him to raise the $3, 500 dollars needed to go and have
the surgery completed. Early this year, a few kind Nigerians managed to
raise some money for him to go to the USA but it fell far below what
was required for his treatment and he was advised by doctors to return
and raise the full amount.

I have been privy
to the efforts he has made to raise the money. Last year, while on
assignment in Abuja, he visited me in my hotel room and when I asked
how he was faring, he merely shrugged and said, “bros, I don tire for
the whole thing”. When I pressed further, he explained how his efforts
to get the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to come to his assistance
had proved futile. When I asked him why he didn’t approach, Sani Lulu,
then NFF President directly to ask for help, he said he had done so and
the NFF boss had asked him to see the Secretary General. He did that
but after a while his file had gone missing! Anyway, leaving the NFF
behind, he had explored and keeps exploring other options. He remains
without a solution. Sometime this year, Olajide Fashikun, a journalist
and former handball and football player, decided to take up his case.
Fashikun went ahead and created a group on Facebook, which he calls
Join 72,000 Nigerians to SAVE IYABO “JAMES JOHNSON” ABADE. The idea is
to get 72,000 Nigerians to donate a minimum of N1000 to the cause and
so raise N7.2million to assist the young man.

Calloused hearts

It is instructive
to note that before Fashikun resorted to the Facebook strategy, he had
written letters to highly influential Nigerians to assist but had hit a
brick wall:

“We wrote 328 letters to Senators, Members of the House of Representatives, the Governor of Delta State,

ministers and even
the Sports Ministry and Sports Minister. No one was going to respond.
Last month, September. The doctor called and said, THIS IS A LAST
OPPORTUNITY. What date? 11th November 2010. Now, I resorted to begging
people directly. We want 72,000 Nigerians to give us N1, 000:00. I
recruited staffers, trained them and saddled them to go without shame
BEGGING FOR A BROTHER,” Fashikun said.

It is sad
commentary on us a people that we could sit by and allow a fellow human
being to waste away without lifting a finger to help. Even more
annoying is the attitude of the NFF under Lulu. These men who would not
come to the aid of a hapless young man could afford to spend public
funds to ferry family and cronies to international competitions at
public expense.

James Johnson needs
help and I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t get it in a country
where people spend public funds lavishly on trifles. For those like
Shuaibu Amodu, former Super Eagles coach who Fashikun says have
contributed to the fund, I say thank you.

Sometimes, it’s not the amount that is contributed that counts, it
the desire to help a fellow human that really matters. I hope our
officials in the NFF and the National Sports commission (NSC) will take
a cue from Amodu and the rest who have shown kindness to this young
man. May God bless them.

The
10th edition of the Governors’ Cup ended on Saturday with a tense match
between Karan Rastogi of India and a higher rated South African, Raven
Klaasen.

In the final match
watched by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, Rastogi, who is
ranked number 451 in the world and fifth in the tournament, upset the
better ranked Raven Klaasen, who is ranked number 361 and fourth in the
tournament, in a gruelling encounter that ended in three close sets of
6-2,6-7 and 7-5.

Rastogi, who also
featured in the final of the first leg of the men’s Singles, described
his victory at the FCMB/Etisalat sponsored championship as a
hard-fought feat.

“I tried the best I
could though it was not easy”. Rastogi, who attributed his first leg
loss to Amir Wentraub to fatigue, said he did not allow that to affect
him this time around.

“When I saw the way
the game was going, I knew I had to get ready to spend a long time on
court. The other guy (Klaasen) was good and I had to keep my
concentration so as not to lose the game,” Rastogi said, adding that
the crowd was a great help.

“The crowd really
spurred me on. I am sure that my opponent also enjoyed the crowd. The
atmosphere here has been very fantastic.”

Rastogi has set his sights on taking part in the upcoming Asian Games.

“Right now I am looking forward to the Asian games. I hope to go there and do the best I can”.

Not a promising start for Klaasen

Klaasen, who was considered the fan-favourite, could not do enough to win the finals.

“I think in the
first set I was distracted but I tried to come back in the second set
but by the third set my game was down again. If I had produced a more
consistent game from the outset, maybe I would have been able win the
tournament. Nonetheless, he [Rastogi] is also a very good player”.

In the women’s
event, tournament favourite, Slovak Zuzana Kucova was stopped from
achieving her dream of back to back titles by Russia’s Nina
Bratchikova, as she was defeated in straight sets of 7-5,6-1.

In the men’s
doubles finals, the pair of Boy Westerhof and Amir Weintraub beat Raven
Klassen and Ruan Roelofse in 5-7,6-4(10-6), while the women’s event was
won by Karolina Kosinka and Melaine Klaffner after they defeated the
pair of Nina Bratchikova and Agnes Szatmari 3-6,7-5(10-7) match.

In keeping up with
their promises, Etisalat Nigeria disbursed phones to about 12 people
who were present as spectators. A number of the phones went to
secondary school students. One of them was Tolu Alakija, a student of
CMS Grammar school, who expressed happiness at the gift.

“I want to say thank you to Etisalat for this phone”.

The final was witnessed by a lot of dignitaries that included the
Asoju Oba of Lagos, Molade Okoya Thomas, the CEO of Etisalat, Steve
Evans, representative of the Managing Director of FCMB, Peter Obaseki,
former chairman of Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Chooka Momah, vice
president of the NTF, Yemi Owoseni and the Chairman of the Local
Organising Committee of BRF Wrestlemania 2010, Charles Odugbesi amongst
others.

Briton
Lee Westwood is to take over as world number one when the new rankings
are published after Ryder Cup team mate Martin Kaymer finished down the
field at the Andalucia Masters.

Westwood ended
Tiger Woods’s unprecedented 281-week reign at the top of the rankings
after German Kaymer finished with a closing 75 for a seven-over-par
tally of 291 at Valderrama on Sunday.

Kaymer, who needed
to finish in the top two here to become world number one, was always up
against it after opening his campaign with rounds of 72, 74 and 70.

Westwood did not play in Andalucia because he was at home resting his injured calf.

“Of course I’m
disappointed,” Kaymer said. “I thought if I had a fast weekend I could
still play a role but I missed too many putts.

“You have to accept it isn’t your week. I don’t think trying to get to number one played any part.

“It was in the back
of my mind but I didn’t play differently, any more aggressively or
defensively. I liked the challenge (of trying to get to number one) and
I think I’ll have another chance in the next few weeks,” added Kaymer.

“Lee deserves it; he’s one of the greatest guys on the European
Tour. I played with him in the Ryder Cup (this month) and he showed me
around. I’m very happy for him.”

TP
Mazembe yesterday trounced Michael Eneramo and his club, Esperance of
Tunisia, 5-0 in the first leg of the Africa Champions League final
match played in Lubumbashi, Congo.

The Super Eagles’ striker’s dream of winning Africa’s top prize in club football has thus suffered a huge setback.

When both teams
clashed in the group stage of the competition, Mazembe managed only a
2-1 home win, before they fell apart 3-0 in the reverse fixture in
Tunis.

Presumably with
this result, Mazembe are now on course to becoming the first team to
win the competition back-to-back twice having first successfully
defended the crown in 1968.

Meanwhile,
Esperance now need to score at least six goals with no reply from the
defending champions to win a second African crown; a feat yet to be
achieved by a Tunisian club Nevertheless, Eneramo will still have his
eyes on winning the top goalscorer award as he currently leads the
chart with eight goals.

“I have said many
times that I would like to score 10 goals this year in the competition
and that should be enough for Esperance to win the trophy a second
time,” he said, before the defeat to Mazembe yesterday.

In last year’s final, Mazembe beat Nigerian side, Heartland FC to lift the crown.

The winners of this year’s edition will pocket a prize money of 1.5
million US dollars and will represent Africa in December at the FIFA
Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Clijsters, who won the tournament for a third
time after her victories in 2002 and 2003, pocketed almost $1.5 million
in prize-money for winning the title in the Qatari capital.

The
27-year-old was up against an opponent seven years her junior but did
not look a step off the pace, battling Wozniacki tooth and nail to seal
a 6-3 5-7 6-3 win in a match lasting two hours, 20 minutes at the
Khalifa Tennis Complex.

“I felt like it was never going to end,” the beaming Belgian said in a courtside interview.

“It
was a really tough battle with some great shots, great tennis and great
fitness. I’m glad that I won, obviously it’s disappointing for Caroline
but I don’t know how many more years I’m going to keep doing this so.

“She has a great future ahead of her.”

Playing
in her first tournament since winning the U.S. Open in September
following an operation to remove a mole from her right foot, Clijsters
came out all guns blazing, breaking Wozniacki in the first game before
building a 4-2 lead.

Matching
Wozniacki’s power from the baseline but bringing that little bit of
shot-making imagination the 20-year-old Dane lacks, Clijsters secured
the first set when her opponent sent a forehand far and wide.

Clijsters
looked in complete command at 3-1 up in the second set, but wobbled.
Wozniacki buckled down and battled back to level the match and with a
spring in her step looked favourite to win the decider and cap a
storybook season.

Clearly Clijsters was not reading from the same script.

Leading
3-2 in the deciding set she heaped unbearable pressure on the Wozniacki
serve and won what proved to be a pivotal sixth game with a scorching
forehand that gave the Dane no chance of returning.

Clijsters held serve at 4-2, as did Wozniacki, leaving the Belgian to serve out the match.

Wozniacki paid tribute to Clijsters and said the best player on the day had won.

“It’s been a fantastic week for me,” said the Dane. “Kim just played amazing today and she deserved to win.”

The prestigious tournament moves to Istanbul for the next three years.</

Pleased with the progress made thus far, the executive committee of FIFA has decided to lift the suspension slammed against the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after receiving confirmation that the court actions against elected members of the NFF had ceased and that they could now work without hindrance.

This decision was taken today at Zurich, where it was also agreed that the voting process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids will go on as scheduled on December 2.

After over sixty days of crisis, with no clear direction for the country’s football, the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), on Wednesday, finally stepped into the Glass House, the NFF secretariat, in Abuja, to have its first board meeting.

Some of the decisions taken at the meeting include the fixing of November 6 for the commencement of the Nigeria Premier League and the shortlisting of Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi for the Super Eagles coaching job.

The annual ‘Brewery Manager’ sports competition got underway yesterday at the Onikan Stadium in Lagos.

The competition,
themed ‘AIGBEDO 2010’ and organised by the Nigeria Breweries Plc is
open to its staff within the Lagos region and will run for one month.

Participants will
compete in nine events – chess, tennis, table tennis, athletics,
snooker, table soccer, scrabble, chart, and swimming.

The main attraction
of the competition as usual is football, which will feature four teams
drawn from four different units within the organisation and last year
winners, BET.

BET has mainly
staff from the engineering unit as members and they will start their
title defence with a game against their colleagues operating from the
headquarters.

The two teams emerged as finalists in last year’s edition and it took a penalty shootout for BET to win.

The other teams are
the Packaging, and Administrations departments. Both teams will slug it
out at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, tomorrow.

The women will also taste action in football.

Anticipation is high among staff; they expect the knock out stages of the annual sporting event to be thrilling.

According to Vindah Edem, the Public Affairs managers for Lagos,
“the initiative is a platform for promoting unity among all members of
staff of the company as well as promotes their health through sports.

The
Search and Groom partnership with Europe-based GLEN continued on
Wednesday at the Ikeja Sports Centre with a two-hour football clinic.
The session was facilitated by Helen Schonbrodt and Lenka Schropferova,
both interns, with the European body.

This was a clinic
for girls between the age of six and eighteen and 24 ladies presented
themselves at the session. It consisted of various drills and
exercises. There was also a 15-minute question and answer session at
the end, which dwelled mainly on future perspectives for the ladies.

Helen and Lenka
have an initiative called ‘FEMPOWER’ – which primarily helps women kick
away the boundaries that have held them down due to the societal and
cultural values.

Some of the
participants expressed satisfaction with the output of the facilitators
and expressed interest in being part of the last session that will be
held on Friday before the two European ladies take their bow.

Helen said: “We had two on two sessions and also matches that involved five players a-side.

It was interesting
and we also talked to the ladies on making sure that they do their
home-works. Education is very important even if they are to pursue a
football career.

“All in all it has
been a fruitful three months and we expect to be back next May to
continue. At that time we will be taking some of the more skilled girls
back to Germany for competitions and if they do very well, they will
have the opportunity of being attached to various clubs.”

In need of sponsorship

But there was a
caveat to all of this – ‘FEMPOWER’ will need a lot of sponsorships and
Helen and Lenka are hoping that some Nigerian companies will see the
value in this initiative and chip in.

Yomi Kuku, director
of Search and Groom said the ladies have contributed positively to
Nigeria in their three-month stay in the country.

“They have been
excellent in their relationship with our people and with the kids and
we will love to have them back. It has been three months of hard work
and I must confess, these ladies have not shirked any situation. They
have gone about their jobs with smiles on their faces. It will be
wonderful to get some companies to support this as it will help elevate
some of our young girls who are interested in making football a
career.”

The last clinic by the duo will hold tomorrow at Ikeja Sports Centre from 9am. The ladies will be leaving Nigeria on Sunday.

Boy
Westerhof, of the Netherlands and Slovak, Zuzana Kucova, are on the
brink of getting to the finals of the 10th Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis
as both have one more hurdle to cross.

Westerhof, who was
sent packing by Amir Winteraub, winner of the first leg of the
Governor’s Cup, has been able to improve his chances at the second leg.
Westerhof was stretched to the limit in Thursday’s quarter final match
at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, by Ivorian star, Terence Nugent,
but won the match in straight sets of 7-6(4),6-4 . He will now face
South African player, Klassen Raven, today for a final ticket. Raven
beat Indian, Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan, in straight sets of 6-3, 6-4.
Valentin Sanon, of Ivory Coast, had no answer to Ben Zvi Gilad’s ground
strokes as he lost out in straight sets of 6-3,7-6. Gilad will next
meet Rastogi Karan of India who defeated Frenchman Rochette Laurent
6-1, 6-1.

In the Women’s singles, Kucova looks unstoppable on her way to
winning the double as she defeated Russian, Anastasia Mukhametova, in a
largely one sided game that ended 6-1,6-1 in the Slovak’s favour. She
will face Melaine Klaffner of Austria, who defeated Agnes Szatmari 6-0,
6-2 in another quarter final match. Nina Bratchikova beat Kosinska
Karolina of Poland in straight sets of 6-1, 6-1. She will battle
Piquion Natalie of France who beat Perrin Conny of Switzerland in a
game that ended 0-6, 7-5 and 6-4. The Nigerian ladies, who made it to
the semi final of the doubles’ event, Fatimah Abinu and Sabath Omotayo,
were however stopped by the pair of Nina Bratchikova of Russia and
Agnes Szatmari of Romania in straight sets of 6-0,6-0. The finals of
the tournament will come up tomorrow at the Lagos State Lawn Tennis
Club.