With barely two days to the start of this year’s edition of the McDan Open West African Championship 2017, anticipations are fervently rising as the sponsors of the tennis tournament are making all the necessary efforts to stage a wonderful competition.

McDan shipping and logistics has already made a startling statement of intent by promising a whopping $10,000 for the winners this year which begins on April 24-29 at the Accra sports stadium.

However, Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) has appeared to share the same ideology in raising future tennis stars.

They have joined in staging the McDan Open in determination to make it a very huge platform so that together with other partners develop the sport of tennis.

UMB’s core value, SPEED, an acronym which stands for Speed, Passion, Excellence, Ethics and Diligence happens to be synonymous with the sport tennis and the Director, Marketing and Communications of the bank, Yvonne Botchey opined that they are pleased to play a major role in hosting the championship.

“For us at Universal Merchant Bank we are proud to be a sponsor of the McDan Open West Africa tournament,” she said at the head office of UMB.

“We are an institution that is committed to healthy living, exercise and fun, so as a natural extension of that commitment to partner with the McDan Open West Africa tournament.”

She added, “As a proud Ghanaian institution, we apply initiatives that are aimed at developing and nurturing Ghanaian talents and the McDan Open is doing just that for our young budding Ghanaian tennis stars.”

Football has always been a major sport to reckon with for centuries in the country but the annual McDan Open tournament has emerged to bridge that gap and on Monday at the tennis court of the Accra sports stadium will be a place to witness great tennis spectacle.