NAN-S-12
Tennis
By Franklin Ohaegbu
Lagos, Jan. 12, 2017 (NAN) Nigeria’s most successful tennis player, Nduka Odizor, says tennis players need sponsors to be able to compete favourably with their counterparts who are dominating the sport globally.
Odizor told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone on Thursday in Lagos that the best players in the world had excellent training and support from sponsorships.
“I was fortunate to get a sponsor in my time and that was one of the reasons I excelled in tennis.
“I believe that sports development in Nigeria can grow better if only private companies or organisations lend a hand to at least one sport as it is done in Europe and the rest of the world.
“For instance, world number one, Andy Murray was supported by the Bank of England in his early days as a player.
“And from there, he got other sponsors who helped his career in tennis to get him to the top,’’ he told NAN expressing the hope that such would materialise.
“Having said so, companies should include such in their Corporate Social Responsibility annually to help the growth of sports in the country.
“If this can be achieved, Nigeria will be on the right track to dominating in sports.
“Attention should be given to other sports too like it is to football. Yes, globally football gets more attention but Nigeria is taking it to the extreme.’’
Odizor said the U.S., the U.K., and Europe as a whole and even China had the best facilities in place to achieve that and they constantly support their athletes to competitions.
“Nigerian tennis players need to constantly feature in tournaments because that’s the way to get better.
“Exposure is one thing that’s very important in tennis because it is a game where if you do not start early you will not go far.
“Confidence level improves when you meet and learn one or two techniques from an opponent and that goes a long way to help your career.
“Points are garnered for world rankings at competitions and that portrays Nigerian players in good light,’’ he said.
The “Duke’’ as he is popularly called among tennis buffs, said the Ministry of Sports and the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) should not be saddled with the responsibility of organising and sponsoring athletes to competitions.
“In the U.S., it is a different ball game entirely; the responsibility does not sit on the state government but shared among everyone who is a stakeholder in the sport.
“But here in Nigeria, the case is different. I understand that they both have full responsibility entrusted on them but they have little they can achieve with this.
“The NTF relies on funds got from the ministry and the ministry has so many federations to cater for.
“The federations are trying their best and I must commend them.
“Most times when they approach organisations and individuals they turn down their appeals for help having in mind that the ministry is providing funds,’’ he said. (NAN)
FOE/ENN/PDE
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(Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Peter Ejiofor)