The Chairman of the Nigeria Tennis Umpires Association, Kehinde Ijaola, has highlighted the need to maintain Covid-19 health guidelines at the 2020 CBN Senior Open, which serves off in Abuja on Friday.
This is the first Senior National Tournament, since sports was given a green light for resumption by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) in September.
Speaking in an interview, Kehinde Ijaola said, there are plans in place in order to follow some of the new rules due to Covid-19 pandemic.
“We all know that this period is a trying period for Tennis and for sports generally, so we are not going to do anything that’s going to affect the Federation. We know how difficult it is to get tournaments.”
“We are trying to see what we can do during the CBN because there are new rules as regarding Covid-19. Our plan generally is to maintain standard and in as much as we know that it is a trying period for Tennis, we are still going to make sure that the welfare of officials is not compromised.”
“Another thing we plan to do is, a refresher course on the morning of the tournament for two hours before play starts.” He said.
Officials at the last senior national tournament held in Nigeria, Vemp Open in December 2019.
Ijaola also disclosed the referee for the 2020 CBN Senior Open tournament.
“Officials have been selected and the referee is going to be Mr Henry Ubochi.”
Tournament referee, Henry Ubochi
While insisting that late registration for players won’t be condoned, the chairman also disclosed that the draw for this year’s tournament will remain the same as last year.
“The draws are going to remain the same as last year. One important thing is that once the 128 players have registered for the qualies especially for the Men’s category, we are going to stand our ground once you come late as a player. Deadline for registration is Thursday.”
