THE 2017 NCC Tennis League draws ceremony which usually kick-starts the very lucrative tennis event has been scheduled to take place at the Ikoyi Club 1938 Tennis Section on Friday, June 30, at 3.00pm.

Solomon Dalung, minister of Youth and Sports Development,  is expected at the ceremony as guest of honour while the executive vice chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta will be the chief host.

The League which started in 2015, had mouth-watering cash prizes for the winning teams and took topflight tennis enthusiasts to eight different cities across Nigeria. Team Offikwu which debuted last year won the trophy with a N7 million cash prize while Team Tombim which was ruunner-up got N5 million. Teams Civil Defence and FCT which came third and fourth  got N3 million and N2 million, respectively.

Godwin Kienka, director of the International Tennis Academy, the institution which administers the event, said the opening ceremony will be a celebration of tennis and our youth from other fields.

 “We plan to have challenge matches between the top seniors and our best juniors as well as choreography and dance routines from the leading Lagos State Schools in those fields. It will be a very interesting evening and access will be unrestricted for the event” Kienka said.

 “However we shall keep details of this year’s package under wraps” said Kienka. Adding,

“All we can say for now is that we have new teams and new cities that will be part of this year’s edition.”

 – June 28, 2017 @ 9:54 GMT /