The 11th edition of the biggest squash tournament in the country begins today at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, GRA.
The tournament which is in its eleventh year promises to be exciting as players from all the 36 States of the country would begin battle in centre court, for a chance to emerge winners in the different categories.
Speaking in a chat with IndepthSport, Capt. Shina Akinfenwa says apart from his passion for the sport, his sponsorship of the tournament is ”to see squash develop to the point where we would have Nigerian players going to the Olympics to compete and possibly win laurels’. We want to develop talents, everybody cannot not be a businessman, so we want to see people develop in squash as a sport and be great in life. And squash as a sport is highly rated now and people can become professionals and make a difference in life”.
Capt. Akinfenwa who is the Patron of a Squash Racket Federation say players would compete for laurels in U-12, U-16, U-19, Classics, Professional and the Veteran categories. Revealing that some of the past players who competed in the tournament ”are now playing professional squash internationally and that is the joy for us, our sponsorhip is not just about creating visibility for our company. But giving back to the society and seeing 500 people live their dreams of becoming professional squash players, that is what is important for us”.
The tournament rackets off with the first three days (Monday-Wednesday) for the close competition, Wednesday-Friday is for the Open Competition involving about 15 clubs from across Nigeria. The Final of the competition takes place of Saturday, 25 July, 2015.
