Lagos Governor’s Cup Tennis Gets Registration Deadline Date

Femi Solaja

With a little over a month to the 16th Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship date, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has fixed September 22 registration deadline for the first leg (Futures 5) of the tournament scheduled to hold at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.

The ITF on its website yesterday stated that players willing to take part in the competition should register on or before 14:00GMT September 22 while any of the already registered players willing to withdraw from the tournament can do so on or before 14:00GMT of September 27.

The qualifying matches for Futures 5 (first leg) will be played between 8 and 9 of October while the Main Draws for the singles and doubles events for both men and women’s categories, will be played between 10 and 14 October.

This year, the players coming from major countries of the world will be jostling for a total prize money of 100,000 dollars as against the 80,000 dollars on offer in previous editions.

Meanwhile, preparations for a hitch-free tournament is ongoing with the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Chief Pius Akinyelure stressing that the city of Lagos is eagerly waiting to host the emerging tennis stars coming from different parts of the world.

President of Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Rotimi Edu, said the facilities in the oldest tennis club in Nigeria have been improved upon, adding that the club will wear a new-look when the competition begins.
The Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship has been organised annually to celebrate the sitting governor in Lagos State since the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

This year’s edition will be the second under the government of Akinwunmi Ambode.
It has over the years attracted over 400 players from more than 50 countries of the world at every edition.
17-year-old French lady, Tessah Andrianjaftrimo and Aldin Setkic of Bosnia respectively won the women and men’s singles of the first leg of 15th edition held in 2015, while Dutchman Antal Van Der Duim and Conny Perrin of Switzerland respectively won the men and women’s singles of the second leg.

The Governor’s Cup has been sponsored over the years by FCMB and Etisalat Nigeria and others such as Deux Projects Ltd, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, LIRS, CCECC, Julius Berger Plc, Naston Ltd, LASACO Plc. and a host of other private individuals.