WINNING STROKE: Moses Michael of Nigeria (r) returns a backhand stroke to Duncan Mugabe of Uganda during the 2014 Gov’s Cup Men’s Singles final. –

By Tunde Oyedele   –

Moses Michael broke the barriers to write his name in gold as he made Nigeria proud by wining the 2014 Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Invitational Tournament at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan on Saturday, 22 November, eyeonthesports.com reports.

Michael, who lost the first set of the Men’s Singles final by 4-6 to Duncan Mugabe of Uganda, came back strongly to win the following two sets in 6-1 and 6-2 to beat his opponent 2 sets to 1 in a highly technical grand finale.

Chief host of the tournament, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State watched in admiration as Michael used his superior forehand strokes to dismiss the big serving Ugandan player to join the few Nigerians who have won the ITF sanctioned tennis tournament.

Soon after the match, Michael raced to the VIP stand to have a warm handshake with Governor Fashola, who congratulated him for the feat.

“I’m happy about this victory and this trophy is a stepping stone for me to achieving more success in tennis”, Michael told eyeonthesports.com.

The sum of $84,000 was shared amongst the winners at this year’s tournament. Earlier on same day, top seed Razafinmahatratra of Madagascar defeated Sarah Adegoke of Nigeria in the Women’s Singles final to go home with the top prize in that category.

In the Women’s Doubles, the pair of Zarah Razafinmahatratra and Sarah Adegoke defeated the pair of Christie Agugbom and Blessing Samuel in straight sets of 6-2, 6-0 to win the final.
Also, the pair of Takanyi Garanganga of Zimbabwe and Duncan Mugabe of Uganda won the Men’s Doubles trophies without playing a single stroke as they walked over the pair of Clifford Enosoregbe and Daouda Ndiaye of Senegal, who failed to turn up due to nagging injury.

Eyeonthesports.com reports that Governor Fashola, while drawing the curtain on the 14th edition of the tournament praised all the players who featured in the tournament for exhibiting the spirit of sportsmanship and commended the organisers for doing a good job.

Prince ‘Wale Oladunjoye, the Senior Special Assistant, SSA to Governor Fashola on Grassroots Sports Development, is head of the Organising Committee of the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Tournament.

-Stay with eyeonthesports.com to read more stories from the Gov’s Cup.