NNPC/Chevron Tennis serves off

By John Egbokhan
Tennis action has served off at the 2010 NNPC/Chevron Junior Masters’ Tennis Championship, holding  at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, with players from the 36 States of the Federation competing for to be the Master of the junior game in the country.

The tournament, which is the 11th in the series and is expected to throw up exciting youngsters onto the front burner of national limelight when it draws to a close on May 2, with a formal ceremony scheduled to take place at the end of the final match of the Championship.

A week-long under-18 national tennis tournament hosted in collaboration with Prime Sports and the Nigerian Tennis Federation (NTF), it has enjoyed the sponsorship of the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture to provide opportunity for the teeming players to display their skills and compete for laurels.

Drawing its participants from the 36 states of the Federation, the Federal Capital Territory, and the NNPC/Chevron-sponsored team of 10 players selected during the 2009 tennis clinic, a holiday program sponsored by the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture for children aged 5 to 17, each participating state is being represented in the Junior Masters’ tournament by two players and a coach.

The Junior Masters Tennis tournament has over the years become one of the reference points for junior tennis tournaments in the country and has churned out promising and talented players who have gone on to conquer the senior category.

Interestingly, last year’s champion, Samuel Omoile, who is currently the highest ranked Nigerian junior player in the world and has been invited to the country’s Davis Cup team, is a product of the Chevron Junior Masters Championship.