Opeyemi Adegoke
The Chairman of the Ikoyi Club Tennis section, Diran Famakinwa, has showered praises on the players who took part in the just concluded Tennis Masters competition.
The 2025 Top 8 Masters involving the best eight male and best eight female smashers started in August.
Famakinwa stated that he was very happy with the skills and overall standard exhibited by the players in the week long tournament which took place between December 5th and 13th.
The tennis section boss said: “We started in August, 2025 with over 60 players in the male category and over 22 players in the female category and eventually top 8 qualified and I have to say we had some excellent participants that Nigeria can be proud of.
“Though we are a recreational club, the players played at professional level in the competition and it has been a great time watching our Nigerian players and international based players who are members of Ikoyi Club 1938 and it has been exciting for a lot of our members as well.”
In the finals decided at the weekend, Mirella Eccli defeated Lolia Kienka 6/1, 7/5 at the centre courts of the tennis section. After losing the first set, Lolia was 5-3 up in the second before Mirella caught up to win and seal the title.
Chiwete Njokanma also defeated Kalada Kienka 7/5, 6/1 to win the male singles title of the tournament powered by Megamound.
After the exciting final, Famakinwa also spoke about plans for 2026 at the tennis section.
“We will be improving on our courts. We will be bringing people internationally to come and increase the coaching skills of our in-house coaches. And also, we will now be implementing a youth development scheme. It’s around harnessing the skills of our very young talents. We will create time for the children so that they can grow up to be top stars. We are going to invest in equipment too.
“We will be talking to a number of sponsors, to collaborate with us so that the prize money we pay can grow.”
