Sheriff wins Ball Hitters tourney
Sheriff Balogun last weekend emerged the winner of the second edition of the Ball Hiiters tennis competition held at the Ikoyi 1938 Club. Balogun defeated the defending champion, Etim Ekanem 7/5 6/1 to smile home with the star prize of N40,000 while Ekanem received the sum of N20,000.
Ekanem put up a stiff opposition in the first tie but succumbed to superior fireworks from Balogun in the second set.
The winner told our correspondent that he was glad to dethrone the defending champion who stood on his way during the first edition of the tourney.
“I am very happy to win this tournament and all praises should go to the four sponsors, Ebisan Rewane, Dere Otubu, Ehi Eguahor and Chris Obosi for providing the platform for us to play,” he explained.
Speaking in a postmatch chat, one of the sponsors, Rewane said the concept of the championship was to support the players whom they had been able to identify.
“We identify the middle class players and we felt we need to support them technically since there were no structures in place to back them up,” he posited.
Rewane said their goal was to see one or two of these players playing in the finals of Grand Slams like Wimbledon and the U S Open in the next five years.
He added that they were contended with supporting the middle class players and would go down further to the grassroots in future.
Rewane urged all lovers of the sport to support up and coming players financially and not to leave everything to the government if they wanted it to grow.
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