Rising hope for Nigerian tennis
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- Category: Sports
- Written by Orkula Shaagee
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The Nigerian tennis rose to an all time high when the likes of Nduka Odizor and others ruled the country’s tennis world, with Odizor going ahead to represent Nigeria at the 1988 Olympic Games in Soul, South Korea.
Then, it was not difficult to see a Nigerian emerging African champion at a continental tennis event, with others finishing at African tennis event in the top ten bracket.
The situation has degenerated of late to such a degree that no Nigerian makes the top ranked cadre at African tennis event, including the medal zone at the All Africa Games.
But the ongoing International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit Warm Up in Abuja has given hope of bright future in the Nigerian tennis.
The Warm Up competition precedes the main event of the championships, which began on Monday at the stadium’s tennis courts and would end tomorrow to set the stage for the main African Junior Tennis Championship at the same venue.
The bright future has further been raised by the fact that the champions in each category will earn 20 points and this helps to improve their rankings done by the International Tennis Federation.
Head Coach of Team Nigeria, Ubale Mohammed said this event is important because it is good for the players’ world rankings, stressing that it was based on this that the event had players from different parts of the world in spite of the fact that it was an African event.
He added that the Warm up event was an opportunity for the players to improve on their world rankings.
On the first day of hostilities, Lolade Ogungbesan lost in the girls’ singles to Yasmin Ebada 6-0 6-1.
That same day, Nigeria’s Samuel Omoile, who is a wildcard entrant in the event and whose world ranking is 608, lost 2-6 3-6 to Morocco’s Ismail Lahlou, who is ranked 1,524 in the boys’ singles.
In the girls’ singles main draw, Biola Akewula, ranked 938 and a wildcard entrant, lost 3-6 2-6 to Great Britain’s Laura Deigman, who is ranked 255 and seeded seventh.
However, David Ayeni, who is ranked 1,570, advanced to the second round in the boys’ singles with a 6-2 6-3 win over unranked Enrico Craighero of Italy.
The excellent run of the Nigerian players continued on the third day of the event, as three players qualified for the semi final at the end of the second round singles events on Wednesday, as South Africa-based Umaru Balami cruised to the quarter final of the U-16 boys’ event with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Adam Noureldin of Sudan.
Wild carded Madueke Nonso playing in the U-18 category defeated Lalami Raman of India 6-4, 6-3 to reach the third round.
Nigeria’s Mohammed Mohammed also reached the semi final in the U-14 boys singles category with a 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 win over Akpese Francis of Ghana.
Another Nigerians in the semi final was Christopher Edward who bundled out Elhouni Mohanad of Libya 4-6, 6-4 6-2.
After the quarter final matches, Edward Christopher and Nonso Madueke have booked semi-final slots in the Tennis Championship.
Christopher, who played in the Under-14 boys’ category, on Thursday came from behind to win the quarter-final encounter against his Algerian opponent, Nasim Makhlouf.
After storming back to win 7-5 in the first set, Christopher left nothing to chance in the second set to win 6-0.
Madueke, ranked 1056 in the world, also won 6-4, 6-3 against number eight seed Seif El-Sherbini of Egypt.
He beat the 247th-ranked player to book a place in the semi-finals of the Under-18 boys’ category.
Articles
Rising hope for Nigerian tennis
Category: Sports Written by Orkula Shaagee Hits: 830
The Nigerian tennis rose to an all time high when the likes of Nduka Odizor and others ruled the country’s tennis world, with Odizor going ahead to represent Nigeria at the 1988 Olympic Games in Soul, South Korea.
Then, it was not difficult to see a Nigerian emerging African champion at a continental tennis event, with others finishing at African tennis event in the top ten bracket.
The situation has degenerated of late to such a degree that no Nigerian makes the top ranked cadre at African tennis event, including the medal zone at the All Africa Games.
But the ongoing International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit Warm Up in Abuja has given hope of bright future in the Nigerian tennis.
The Warm Up competition precedes the main event of the championships, which began on Monday at the stadium’s tennis courts and would end tomorrow to set the stage for the main African Junior Tennis Championship at the same venue.
The bright future has further been raised by the fact that the champions in each category will earn 20 points and this helps to improve their rankings done by the International Tennis Federation.
Head Coach of Team Nigeria, Ubale Mohammed said this event is important because it is good for the players’ world rankings, stressing that it was based on this that the event had players from different parts of the world in spite of the fact that it was an African event.
He added that the Warm up event was an opportunity for the players to improve on their world rankings.
On the first day of hostilities, Lolade Ogungbesan lost in the girls’ singles to Yasmin Ebada 6-0 6-1.
That same day, Nigeria’s Samuel Omoile, who is a wildcard entrant in the event and whose world ranking is 608, lost 2-6 3-6 to Morocco’s Ismail Lahlou, who is ranked 1,524 in the boys’ singles.
In the girls’ singles main draw, Biola Akewula, ranked 938 and a wildcard entrant, lost 3-6 2-6 to Great Britain’s Laura Deigman, who is ranked 255 and seeded seventh.
However, David Ayeni, who is ranked 1,570, advanced to the second round in the boys’ singles with a 6-2 6-3 win over unranked Enrico Craighero of Italy.
The excellent run of the Nigerian players continued on the third day of the event, as three players qualified for the semi final at the end of the second round singles events on Wednesday, as South Africa-based Umaru Balami cruised to the quarter final of the U-16 boys’ event with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Adam Noureldin of Sudan.
Wild carded Madueke Nonso playing in the U-18 category defeated Lalami Raman of India 6-4, 6-3 to reach the third round.
Nigeria’s Mohammed Mohammed also reached the semi final in the U-14 boys singles category with a 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 win over Akpese Francis of Ghana.
Another Nigerians in the semi final was Christopher Edward who bundled out Elhouni Mohanad of Libya 4-6, 6-4 6-2.
After the quarter final matches, Edward Christopher and Nonso Madueke have booked semi-final slots in the Tennis Championship.
Christopher, who played in the Under-14 boys’ category, on Thursday came from behind to win the quarter-final encounter against his Algerian opponent, Nasim Makhlouf.
After storming back to win 7-5 in the first set, Christopher left nothing to chance in the second set to win 6-0.
Madueke, ranked 1056 in the world, also won 6-4, 6-3 against number eight seed Seif El-Sherbini of Egypt.
He beat the 247th-ranked player to book a place in the semi-finals of the Under-18 boys’ category.