Surprise and no surprise at New Era tournament (courtesy: www.234next.com)
 Jude Nwanze returns a stroke in one of his outings at the 2010 edition of New Era Wheelchair Tennis.
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February 22, 2010 12:59AM. After more than 10 days of intense battle at the tennis court of the National Stadium, Lagos, the third edition of the New Era Wheelchair Tennis Championship came to a climax yesterday as Nigeria's number one wheelchair tennis player, Wasiu Yusuf, won the title for the third consecutive time after defeating Jude Nwanze.
Uwazie was unable to keep to his earlier promise of dethroning Yusuf, having been thrashed 6-0 6-4 in the finals.
Beaten by a local champion
However, it was a different scenario in the women's finals as Oluwatosin Daodu failed to reclaim the women's trophy she had won since the inception of the event in 2006 - the competition did not hold in 2007 and 2008.
Daodu, Nigeria's number one, had earlier claimed that the local champions couldn't give her problems due to the fact that she had travelled for international competitions twice in the space of two years.
However, she was taught a bitter lesson by Remilekun Fasanya, ranked second in the women's finals as she trashed her 6-1 6-1 to win the N200, 000 star prize.
 Participants at the tournament share a moment with Minister for Sports Engr. Sani Ndanusa, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Lagos State Governor, Raji Fashola SAN, Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji and NEF President, Chief Mrs. Remi Tinubu
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‘We want more sponsors'
The national coach of wheelchair tennis, Francis Tarmena, had a lot of appreciation for sponsors of the event, pay television station, HITV and Yinka Folawiyo and Sons, and called for more corporate organizations to follow in their steps.
"This competition is better than nothing because it opens up an avenue for more sponsors and a lot of companies that are looking for where to put in their money can come in and sponsor tournaments.
"In most states, the department of the physically challenged falls under the jurisdiction of the first lady, which was the reason former Lagos State first lady, Remi Tinubu got involved while her husband was the governor.
"I'm hoping more first ladies follow her initiative. These are laudable projects where you serve humanity and give the physically challenged a profession to live on and sustain their families.
"It is not about seeing them on the streets and throwing out money to them but about buying wheelchairs, racquets and rid the society of miscreants on the streets." |
