Tournament Director of the ongoing Dala Hard Court Tennis Championship, which started yesterday, Mallam Yusuf Datti, has disclosed that 30 players are fighting for the top prize at the main draw of the event, which started yesterday in Kano.

He said the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) invited 20 men and 10 ladies, who are ranked players into the main draw of the tournament.

The tennis championships, which served off with preliminaries from November 11 to 13, will finish on November 19, 2022. Datti revealed that the budget for this edition of the yearly tournament is slightly higher than that of last year because of inflation, adding that the amount for this year is N27 million.

He, however, said the event’s organisers are happy with the positive response from their major sponsors, including Aliko Dangote, Fidelity Bank and Wacot Limited, as well as several other corporate organisations and individuals.

Datti added that they ‎have as usual, provided accommodation and feeding for players, as well as national officials of the tennis sport’s governing body.

Datti, who is the Northwest representative on the NTF board, disclosed that Kano State Deputy Governor, Nasiru Gawuna, will be at the closing ceremony.

Joseph Imeh and Marylove Edwards won the men’s and ladies singles titles of the 2021 competition respectively. The men’s winner this year will go home with N1 million prize, while the ladies’ champion will get N600, 000.