Joseph, Oyinlomo win 33rd edition of Dala tennis championship

Tennis
By Muhammad Tijani
Kano, Nov. 24, 2019 (NAN) Second seed, Joseph Imeh on Saturday exhibited solid performance to beat first seed Sylvester Emmanuel 6-3, 6-3 and retain his second consecutive Dala Hard Court title in Kano.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that it was the second straight final between both men in Kano, and it was Imeh who prevailed again.

He became the only 6th man to defend the men’s singles title in the competition’s 33-year history and win N1 million prize money.

Also in the ladies category, 16-year-old Oyinlomo Quadre beat 4th seed Aanu Aiyegbusi 6-2, 6-0 and claim her first Dala Hard Court title in Kano.

Quadre moved through the first set efficiently and only faced a minor inconvenience in the 7th game, when Aiyegbusi broke at 5-2.

Quadre, however, wrapped up the set in the next game before powering through the second set without any troubles.

The 57-minute victory handed Quadre her second consecutive national title, after her title-triumph at the CBN Open in June, and N600,000 in prize-money.

Speaking to NAN after the event, an elated Imeh expressed joy at retaining the championship.

“I am extremely happy for winning in the men’s category for the second straight time,” Imeh said.

He also commended the organisers for maintaining the standard of the competition.

Also speaking, the vice president of Nigerian Tennins Federation (NTF), Alhaji Iro Ishaya commended the organisers for sustaining the competition for the past 33 years.

“We are indeed commending organisers of this tournament, under the able leadership of Alhaji Bashari Gumel.

“I appreciate the players’ talent and creativity of the young players. This can be seen as an indication for them to perform wonderfully well in the future,” he said.

In his remark, Kano state governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, commended the organisers for putting together such a good competition.

Represented by the chairman Kano State Sports Commission, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, he called on governments at all levels and other well to do individuals in the society to help the development of tennis and other sports in the state. (NAN)
MNT/JPE/ISMA
============
Edited by Joseph Edeh/Ismail Abdulaziz