Nigeria Content Online

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.