Tennis enthusias , stakeholders and players alike defiled the heavy rain that disrupted all business activities in Abuja on Saturday to grace the grand finale of the 47th Central Bank of Nigeria Senior Tennis Championship that ended at the weekend.
The event saw Nigeria’s current men’s
singles tennis no 1, Abua Canice doing it once again to justify his ratings by beating the defending champion and tournament seed 3 , Michael AKpan Emmanuel 6-1 ,6-2 in the final to emerge as the new champion.
In the women’s category, upcoming junior player, Etoro Bassey defeated Ogunjobi Success 2-1 ( 3-6, 6-0 to lift the women’s singles trophy as the new champion.
Ironically, both champions won the titke
for the first time in their tennis carrier.
While Abua Canice who is a member of the 2026 Nigeria Davis Cup squad can be said to be a strong and experienced player who had made several unsuccessful attempt at the title in the past before luck smiled on him this time around, same cannot be said of Etoro Bassey who is just an upcoming junior player that is just trying to cut her teeth in the senior cadre.
Etoro who was really nervous in the first set when she committed so many unforced errors that made her loose the first game 3-6 before bouncing back to claim the two remaining sets at 6-0, 6-3, said she didn’t really know what went wrong with her during the first set and thanked God for the quick intervention.
For Abua Canice, the victory was well deserved. Though it was late in coming, “I thank God for His mercy and making me proud to be whom I am. As far as tennis is concerned, this is just the beginning of my reign”.
“But more importantly, I need to be focused and take each game as they come’. My next target is the Davis Cup qualifier against Morocco. I need to do well for myself and my country .
Playing in the doubles event, the duo of Abua Canice and Mohammed defeated Michael AKpan Emmanuel to win the men’s double title while Mohammed Khadijat paired with Ogunjobi Success to lift the women’s doubles trophy by beating Etoro Bassey and James Favour 6-2, 6-7(2), 10-6.
In the men’s singles wheelchair category, perennial winner and defending champion, Adewale Alex, who have been ruling the class since the introduction of the wheelchair division in the game years back, defeated Bankole Rasaq 2-0 ( 6-0, 6-1 ) to retain his title while the women’s singles wheelchair trophy was carted home by the defending champion, Usoh Andrea, who also retained her title by beating Enwerem Chika, 2-0 ( 6-0, 6-1 ) in the final.
In his address at the grand finale, the Governor of Central Bank, Yemi Cardoso, ably represented by Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, Acting Director, Corporate Communication Department of the CBN, commended all the participants for their commitment.
He said the Central Bank is fully committed to the overall development of Nigerian youths and as such, the championship has come to stay as the bank will continue to sponsor the annual championship.
