Sports
Lagos Open: We’ll Set Up Tennis Academy To Attract Global Attention – Ambode
Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode at the weekend said the State Government will fully support the setting up of a Lawn Tennis Academy in the State that would make the annual Lagos Open International Tennis Championship attract the global attention that it truly deserves.
Governor Ambode, who spoke at the finals of the 2018 Lagos Open Championship held at the Lawn Tennis Club in Onikan, Lagos, said the State Government has held talks with the State’s Lawn Tennis Association to open up an academy with state-of-the-art facilities that would attract world class players in future competitions.
“This is the beginning of the support that Lagos State will continue to give to Lagos Open. The whole idea is for us to be able to move away from this particular location and set up a Lawn Tennis Academy that can actually have an upgrade of a world class competition.
“They have actually spoken to us that we need to open an academy. You see, what we have here on this ground is just seven courts, but if you want it to be globally attended and we want this Lagos Open to be globally competitive, we need an academy that would have like 16 courts and have other facilities to attract world class players and that is what Lagos is ready to partner with the association and because we want the name Lagos on the world map, Lagos State Government has to support the idea of a lawn tennis academy and that is where we are going,” he said.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.
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