The Nigeria Tennis Umpires Association (NTUA) made history Thursday in Abuja following the successful hosting of its maiden International Tennis Federation's Advantage All programme, thus setting the pace for other African countries.
The workshop, organised in conjunction with the Nigeria Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Federation, aims to further deepen the domestication of the initiative which the country formally signed into in 2021 at the Annual General Meeting of ITF in Glasgow, Scotland.
President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation, Engr. Ifedayo Akindoju, while declaring the workshop open, extolled the unprecedented milestones being recorded by the Officiating Department of the Federation.
"Officiating in Nigeria has advanced beyond the imagination of anybody and the ladies in tennis officiating have done so well. What we are witnessing here today is another landmark to show that ladies are very interested in sports and in tennis in particular", he stated.
As a Federation, "we are promoting gender fairness, gender equality in terms of opportunities and participation, and have put in place a well monitored and guided mechanism to ensure that nobody is treated unfairly", Engr. Akindoju reiterated.
Acting Chairman of the Nigeria Tennis Umpires Association, Mrs. Rose Abu, in her welcome remarks, encouraged the participants to make adequate use of the opportunity to develop and sharpen their officiating knowledge and skills.
She equally thanked the ITF for endorsing the event as well as commended the effort and commitment of the President of NTF and the country's Officiating Manager, Mr. Kehinde Ijaola, in making the day a reality.
Gold Badge Chair Umpire and an Advantage All Global Ambassador, Eva Asderaki-Moore led a plethora of virtual international goodwill messages from female tennis umpires across the world to the participants.
With the theme "Tennis Officiating: Place Value of Women in Officiating and Empowerment", the workshop had series of paper presentations on topical issues.
A minute silence was earlier observed in honour of the immediate past Nigeria's Advantage All Ambassador and one of the country's finest tennis officials, Late Arinola Isa-Banire, who died in July 2023.