Damilare Okunola

In a bid to make this year’s Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Open better than previous years, more private organisations in Nigeria have thrown their weight behind the International Tennis Federation, ITF, sanctioned circuit.
One of such companies is a China-based smart phones manufacturer, Gionee. The company is barely two months old in the Nigerian market, which has been dubbed the official ‘smart phones’ partner for the tournament.
The company is supporting the 2013 edition of the Governor’s Cup, which serves off on 13 October at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, with N800,000 worth of its products as well as N1 million equity support which has been paid about two weeks ago.
Tournament Director of the championship, Prince ‘Wale Oladunjoye, said that Gionee handsets will be won by  fans who attend the two weeks tournament.
He added that beneficiaries of the phones will be decided through the number of days such persons visit the venue to watch matches of the competition where players across the world will fight for the $80,000 prize money.
Prince Oladunjoye further disclosed that this year’s edition also has the backing of Lifemate Furnitures which has promised about N1.5 million worth of its products for the organisers. These may be offered to the fans as incentives to increase the number of spectators during the tournament.
Meanwhile, the ITF has approved new time schedule for matches in the men and women’s singles as well as doubles events of the Governor’s Cup.
Daily matches of the competition will now run from 12 noon through 6-7p.m. The new time is coming at the instance of the organisers, who want Nigerians to have the opportunity of watching matches in the evening.
Prince Oladunjoye noted that “The finals of the women’s singles of both Futures 1 and 2 have been scheduled to start by 3p.m, while the men will play theirs by 5p.m.
“The main reason we changed the time is to encourage interested fans to come to the venue after close of work, and have a glimpse of high quality tennis players who can now play till about 7pm. The club has been given a facelift”, Sam Egbuchunam, President of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club said.