IKPO IGBINOBA
President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, Mr. Dayo Akindoju has dismissed claims that he abandoned wheelchair tennis after assuming office in June 2017.
In an exclusive report published by PM EXPRESS, an aggrieved wheelchair tennis player alleged the president turned his back on the sport after he came on board.
The player who spoke anonymously also accused the president of reneging on his promise to increase sponsorship and boost funding.
But the president speaking with PM EXPRESS while reacting to the allegations said the outburst of the player was misplaced and that there was no iota of truth in his allegations.
He asked in the telephone chat “How can I abandon wheelchair tennis? And why should I abandon wheelchair tennis”?
Mr. Akindoju who responded to all the issues raised stressed that contrary to the allegations of the aggrieved player, he had demonstrated his interest in wheelchair tennis.
According to him “The player who accused me of abandoning wheelchair tennis has not been following the trend since I became the president of the federation.
“For example, he should know that after the elections into the board, I invited the secretary of the wheelchair tennis department of the NTF and two of their representatives to Abuja.
“And the only item on the agenda of that meeting was how to take wheelchair tennis to the next level.
“If I didn’t mean well for wheelchair tennis, I would not have hosted that meeting which was very fruitful in the sense that some issues were properly explained”.
“Another major step my board took immediately after the inauguration was appointing one of our members, Prof. Okunleye to be in charge of wheelchair tennis.
“This has never happened in the history of wheelchair tennis in the country”
Mr. Akindoju also countered the allegation of him declining calls from members of the wheelchair tennis constituency.
He explained “It couldn’t have been possible for me to respond to calls from all the players, coaches,and secretary. No organisation is run like that”.
“There has always been a channel of communication in place which is through the secretary and in this present board, there is even a member, Prof. Okunleye who is saddled with wheelchair tennis matters.
On his sponsorship of one of the ITF approved Futures, the NTF chief said his company had been sponsoring the tournament for three years now. “My company Dayak has been sponsoring the Futures for three years now, even before I became the president of NTF.”
He also explained why the board couldn’t fund the Davis Cup qualifier(African zone) under way in Kenya.
“Apart from the budget for the Davis Cup coming in November, it was also unrealistic”.
Mr. Akindoju while reiterating his commitment to Nigerian tennis revealed that he ensured the country never missed out of international tournaments “even though my board has not received a dime from the Sports Ministry since inauguration in June last year”.
He charged players and stakeholders not to despair because his board will do everything to raise the profile of wheelchair tennis.
“The board will meet on February 22 and at the end of that meeting we will come out with our programme for the year. And Wheelchair Tennis would be adequately catered for.”