Christopher Itodo came from a set down to beat India’s Raba Katalya 3-6, 6-0, 6-0 to launch Nigeria to a winning start at the ongoing ITF U-18 West and Central Africa Circuit holding at the Stade Lamite, Cotonou. Itodo’s come-from-behind victory proved a tonic for compatriot Christopher Bulus who also progressed to the second round […]
via Team Nigeria In Winning Start At ITF Junior Circuit — newfanzoneblog
The impressive performance of Team Nigeria at the 39th ITF/CAT African Junior Championship concluded over the weekend in Pretoria, South Africa has been rewarded with a ticket for the Junior Davis Cup scheduled for Egypt later this year.
Also, Michael Osewa emerged silver medalist in the boy’s 14&under category of the 11-day tournament following a 7-5, 6-4 loss to Damien Laporte of the Seychelles.
Osewa went into the match as the favourite having triumphed 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the most recent meetings between the two players which was at the Top 8 African Junior Masters held in Casablanca, Morocco last November but it was his opponent from the Indian Ocean Island that carried the day.
Osewa had made it a trademark of recovering after losing the opening set, a feat he achieved against top seed Younes Adnane of Morocco in the last-16, Jason Espitalier of Mauritius in the quarterfinal and Ryan Randiek of Kenya in the semifinal but it was not to be this time as Laporte broke him in the ninth game of the second set before taking his remaining two games on his own serves.
Nigeria Tennis Federation boss, Sani Ndanusa commended the feat achieved by the Nigerian team which was highlighted by Osewa’s masterful display.
He said: “The fear of the North Africans is now a thing of the past for us. Our immediate task is to complement our performance here which is the best in Nigeria’s history with a bigger support for our junior players especially now that we are back in the Davis Cup after missing for about three years.”
Yousef Khamis claimed the Boys’ 16 & under singles title beating Philip Henning of South Africa 7-6, 6-2 butMakayla Loubser restored the pride of the host nation by winning the Girls’ 14& under title with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Aisha Niyonkuru of Burundi.
ITF Moroccan Centre player Sada Nahimana of Burundi, made history as she claimed her third ITF title in succession at the expense of Morocco’s Diae El Jardi 7-5, 6-2.
Friday Gabriel, Christopher Itodo, Christopher Bulus, Barakat Quadri, Marylove Edward, Angel McLeod and Adetayo Adetunji are the other players that featured for Nigeria at the 11-day championship which attracted about 120 players from 25 countries.
The closing ceremony followed on centre court, with ITF Board Member Ismail El Shafei, Tennis South Africa Vice-President Riaad Davids, Confederation of African Tennis President Tarak Cherif, ITF Executive Director Luca Santilli and other distinguished guests all present.
Nigeria’s Micheal Osewa on Thursday, reached the final of the boy’s 14&under event at the 39th ITF/CAT African Junior Championships in Pretoria, South Africa with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Ryan Randiek of Kenya.
The semifinal clash at the University of Pretoria High Performance Centre saw the two players going head-to-head for the second year running with Osewa outplaying his East African rival with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph at the quarterfinal stage of the tournament held in Tunisia in 2015.
The match was going with the serves until the ninth game when Randiek broke the Nigerian before sealing the set 6-4 on his serve. Nigeria’s coach Mohammed Ubale had expressed worries over Osewa’s inability to win the opening game which he pointed puts him under pressure but just like he did in the round of 16 clash against the number one seed Younes Adnan of Morocco and Jason Espitalier of Mauritius in the quarterfinal, Osewa kept his composure to level the match by winning the second set 6-4 to force the game into a rubber decider which he won 6-2. He will now meet Damien Laporte of Seychelles, who defeated South Africa’s Khololwam Montsi in Friday’s final.
An elated President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) Sani Ndanusa, who watched the match alongside several other federation bosses who are in Pretoria for the Annual General Meeting of the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT), said Osewa’s feat has helped break the jinx of players from North Africa who have always proved a barrier to Nigeria’s quest to rule Africa.
Osewa was stopped by Morocco’s Ismaal Saadi at this stage last year while Nigeria’s best outing in recent years was in 2012 when Candy Idoko finished third in Botswana after losing to a Tunisian in the semifinal.
Osewa is also in the run for the doubles title where he is pairing Gabriel Friday. There semifinal clash with opponents from South Africa was put on hold due to rain.
About 120 players from 25 countries are featuring in the 11-day tournament. The event which is in four categories is the biggest junior tennis tournament in Africa.
Nigeria’s Micheal Osewa continued his giant-killing run at the on-going Championship in Pretoria, South Africa with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Jason Espitalier of Mauritius to qualify for the semifinal of the 14&under of the 11-day event which will end on Saturday.
Osewa had on Monday caused the biggest shock of the tournament which attracts about 120 players from 25 countries with a come-from-behind 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over number one seed Younes Adnane of Morocco and, in an identical fashion to his beating of the top seed, he added his opponent from the Indian Ocean Island to his list of casualties in the quarterfinal clash at the High Performance Centre of the University of Pretoria.
The knockout stage has been a complete turnaround for the eighth-seeded Osewa, who started the tournament on a faltering note by losing to Eliakin Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire in the preliminary stage.
However, with the likes of second seed Elyes Marouani of Tunisia, Ahmed Atef of Egypt, who is the third seed and Khololwam Montsi, the tenth seeded South African, who halted the incredible run of Nigeria’s Gabriel Friday all still in the race for the title, Osewa still have to up his game if he is to rule Africa.
Nigeria’s coach Mohammed Ubale expressed confidence in Osewa declaring he could beat all his rivals to the title but he was quick to add that he must avoid putting himself under pressure by trailing all the time.
He said: “Osewa is very hungry for success as he has been improving since the first game which he lost. He needs to be calm because he is always eager to hit the winners which he hasn’t been doing perfectly. Psychologically, he is always under big pressure after losing the opening set. He needs to avoid falling behind.”
Osewa is the only player left in contention for a title as the likes of Friday, Christopher Itodo, Christopher Bulus, Adetayo Adetunji, Angel McLeod, Barakat Qaudri and Marylove Edward have all exited from the singles events.
Nigeria’s Micheal Osewa caused the biggest upset so far at the 39th ITF/CAT Africa Junior Championship in Pretoria, South Africa by beating tournament’s number one seed, Younes Adnane of Morocco 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to qualify for the quarterfinal of the boy’s 14&under.
The sixth-seeded Osewa started the tournament on a losing note as he fell 6-4, 6-4 to Eliakin Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire but bounced back to contention with back-back wins over Salum Mutabazi of Burundi and Codie Van Schalkwyk of Namibia to set up a last-16 clash with Adnane.
The game at the the University of Pretoria High Performance Centre, seems to be heading the way of form book as the Moroccan took the first set in a convincing manner bitting series of winners for a 6-1 triumph. However, Osewa, a semifinalist at the last edition in Tunisia, took the second set 6-3 forcing Adnane to lose his unblemished record as he was yet to drop a set before.
Osewa completed a memorable win in a 6-2 final set to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Jason Espitalien of Mauritius.
Team Nigeria had on Sunday recorded seven wins out of the nine matches they featured but Monday was not all rosy as Gabriel Friday was knocked out by South Africa’s Kholowalm Montsi 6-4, 6-4. It was the same fate for Christopher Bulus and Barakat Quadri who both lost their round of 16 matches.
Friday was adjudged as one of the standout performers of the tournament winning all his preliminary matches – the most memorable of which was against Morocco’s Assil Boussairy – in straight sets but had his run halted by the homeboy.
Christopher Itodo also exited the boy’s 16&under on Monday as he lost 6-0, 6-0 to Philip Henning of South Africa to join Adetayo Adetunji, Angel McLeod and Marylove Edward who all failed to progress from the preliminaries.
Fortunately, all the Nigerian players are still in the race for the doubles title with Adetunji and McLeod qualifying for the quarterfinal of the girl’s 16&under doubles while Quadri and Edward are also in the last-eight of the 14&under.
Osewa and Gabriel are also through to the last-eight in the boy’s 14&under doubles while Itodo and Bulus have also booked a spot in the 16&under doubles.
In what apparently is a setback for its quest to excel at the forthcoming ITF/CAT African Junior Championship holding from March 9-18 in Pretoria, South Africa, Team Nigeria were on Friday denied visas by the South African embassy in Abuja.
National Junior tennis head coach, Mohammed Ubale expressed frustration at the development saying its a big blow to the country’s preparation.
“The South African Embassy took us by surprise this morning (Friday) by denying five out of the six players that are going for the AJC.
“We have submitted our passports since ten days ago and they keep requesting for one thing or the other which we presented to them before they gave us appointment to come and collect it today (Friday) which was why we fixed our departure for Saturday (today) because our plan was to travel earlier,” Ubale, who alongside Marylove Edwards were the only two of the seven-man contingent that were granted visas for the tournament billed for the ITF High Performance Centre, Pretoria, said.
He added: “What annoyed me mostly is the fact that they granted visas to just two of us when we are all covered by one letter which the organisers sent to them in the course of seeking clarifications.”
NTF president, Engr Sani Ndanusa as at Friday afternoon was making efforts to make sure that the whole team were eventually granted visas as he made several calls to the International Tennis Federation headquarters in London as well as the Confederation of African Tennis in Tunis for intervention.
“Its very frustrating because virtually all the countries were scheduled to arrive the venue on Saturday but from what is on ground the earliest we can be in South Africa is Monday.
The most annoying part of it is that all the players have travelled several times to various parts of the continent and even beyond for tournaments” he said.
Those that were denied visas are Angel McLeod, Christopher Itodo, Christopher Bulus, Gabriel Friday and Michael Osewa.
Nigeria on Friday won four gold and three silver medals in the doubles events of the 2016 ITF/CAT West and Central Africa Junior Championships holding at the National Tennis Centre, Abuja.
In the Boys’12&u doubles final, Daniel Adeleye and Sulaiman Ibrahim defeated Kabba of Togo and Kamara of Sierra Leone while in the Boys’ 14&u, Michael Osewa and Friday Gabriel paired to beat their fellow Nigerians Saminu Abubakar and Musa Sani 7-6 (3), 6-4.
in the Girls’ 16&u, Adetayo Adetunji combined with Angel McLeod to beat Mattu Kamara of Sierra Leone and Linda Eloundou of Cameroun 6-0, 7-5 to clinch the title while in the 14&u, Barakat Quadri and Marylove Edwards saw off Anna Lumengo and Manuella Eloundou of Cameroun 6-3, 6-4.
Nigeria however, had to settle for silver medals in the Boys’ 16&u as Christopher Itodo and Peter Lawal lost to Dalmas N’tchaa of Benin and Jacques Sewavi of Togo 6-4, 6-2.
It was the same story in the Girls’ 12&u as Timiprie Maxwell and Rebecca Ekpeyong succumbed to Sedjo Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire and Indira Maffo Ronkan of Gabon 1-6, 6-4, 10-5.
The final of the tournament which is featuring 12 countries will be played on today with Nigeria competing in the 16&u final for boys and girls while there will be an all-Nigeria final in the boys’ 14&u singles as Osewa faces Gabriel while Quadri and Edwards clash for the girls’ 14&u title.
The other singles final involving two Nigerians is between Adeleye and Ibrahim in the boys’ 12&u. The championship which features 10 countries serves as qualifier for the African Junior Championship in Pretoria, South Africa in March.
Host Nigeria continued her impressive showing at the ongoing ITF/CAT West and Central Africa Junior Championship in Abuja on Wednesday with majority of the players advancing to the knockout stage of the 12-nation tournament billed to end on Saturday.
South Africa-based Adetayo Adetunji opened the floodgate of triumphs for Nigeria as she outplayed Linda Elondou of Cameroun, who is based in the US, 6-1, 6-0 to keep her perfect record in pool A of the girls’ 16&U while Angel McLeod beat Aichata Keita of Mali to also preserve her unblemished record in pool B of the category.
Timipre Maxwell beat Cameroun’s Patricia Wamba 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 to qualify from the girls’ 14&u and Rebecca Ekpeyong also progressed to the knock-out stage by beating Naa McKorly of Ghana 6-0, 6-0.
Ekiti state junior champion, Daniel Adeleye edged Ghana’s Kenneth Adzokatse in a tough match which ended 5-7, 6-3, 12-10 to stay on course for the boys’ 12&U title.
Tunisia 2015 Africa Junior Championship bronze medallist, Michael Oshewa maintained his superb form as he whitewashed Souleymane Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire 6-0, 6-0 to set up a semifinal clash with Charles Alipoe of Togo, a 7-6, 6-3 winner over Musa Sani of Nigeria.
A mouth-watering semifinal clash in the Boys’ 16&u on Thursday will see Nigeria’s Christopher Itodo face Frederic Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire after both players defeated Felix Hammond of Ghana 6-3, 6-3 and Peter Lawal of Nigeria 6-7, 6-0.
in the boys’ 14&U, Friday Gabriel also defeated Cameroun’s Paul Wamba 6-0, 6-0 to set up a semifinal match-up against Eliakin Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire, who outsmarted Saminu Abubakar of Nigeria 6-2, 6-4.
Nigeria’s Marylove Edwards on Tuesday continues her great display in the 2016 ITF/CAT Africa Junior Championships West & Central qualifiers with an impressive 6-0, 6-1 win over Serena Geli of Togo as the 12-nation tournament holding at the Tennis Centre of the National Stadium Abuja reaches its crucial stage.
The 10-year-old who is known for her double forehand and double backhand has been one of the standout performers in the 12-nation tournament having beaten her previous opponents from Ghana and Nigeria with the same score line to top her pool.
She is now on course to face her compatriot, Oyinlomo Quadri, who returned to winning ways by beating Naa McKorley of Ghana 6-1 6-2. Quadri, 12, who is now based in Morocco on a year-long ITF scholarship, suffered a shock 6-4, 6-0 loss to Patricia Wamba of Cameroun in her first match.
Nigeria also had it good in the boys’ 14&u as Michael Osewa posted a 6-1, 6-1 win over Cameroun’s Paul Wamba while Gabriel Friday and Musa Sani both triumphed 6-4, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-2 against Charles Alipoe of Togo and Louis Nyarka of Ghana in the same category.
Osewa, who got bronze at the main AJC in Tunisia last year expressed confidence of winning the category while also hoping to do the same in the AJC billed for Pretoria, south Africa in march.
He said: “I’m good enough for the title here in Nigeria. My major focus is how to win the AJC title in South Africa because the two players that were above me at the last AJC from Morocco have moved to the 16&u.”
In the girls’ 16&u, Nigeria’s Angel McLeod and South Africa-based Adetayo Adetunji also maintained their good form by winning 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-0 against fellow Nigerians, Chidinmma Ezeh and Mariam Alli-Balogun
Christopher Itodo also matches on with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Isaac El Haya of Cote d’Ivoire in the boys’ 16&u same as Peter Lawal who defeated Jaques Sewodo of Togo 6-4, 7-6 in a match that lasted over two hours.
Nigeria’s Daniel Adeleye, Saminu Abubakar and Oiza Yakubu all lost their matches against their opponents from Togo, Gabon and Mali respectively.
Angel McLeod on Tuesday made a winning return to competitive tennis following the death of her mother by beating Mattu Kamara of Sierra Leone 6-2, 6-3 as the 2016 ITF/CAT Africa Junior Championships West & Central Africa qualifiers continue in Abuja.
The right-handed 15-year-old endured a torrid start to the round-robin girls’ 16&u match as her Thailand-based opponent hit some early winners but she responded with great effect hitting her own winners in-between a couple of aces to the delight of the spectators which include NTF President Sani Ndanusa, CAT Zone 2 Vice President, Yemi Owoseni and Athletics Federation of Nigeria(AFN) boss Solomon Ogba.
Nigeria’s Adetayo Adetunji also got a 6-2,6-2 win over Fatoumata Kaita of Mali while Christopher Bulus and Christopher Itodo both secured wins over Fetege Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire and Felix Hammong of Ghana 6-2, 6-1 in the boys 16&u. Ibrahim Souleyman also beat Amza Kabba of Sierra Leone 6-0, 6-2.
The major shock of the day saw Nigeria’s Oyinlomo Barakat Quadri lost 6-3,6-0 to Anna Lemongo of Cameroun.
“It was a very poor match for me; I know I could have done better because I beat her in straight sets at the main AJC in Morocco last year. I will work harder to qualify from the group,” the12-year-old said as she look towards her next match against Naa McKorley of Ghana on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s dominance of the tournament met further resistance as David Amusu lost 6-3, 6-4 to Benin’s N’tcha Delmas while Chidinma Eze and Favour Moses were beaten 6-0,6-0 and 6-2, 7-5 by Aichata Keita of Mali and Vania Dotze of Togo respectively.
Host Nigeria got off to a flying start on Sunday with most of her players bagging victories as the 2016 ITF/CAT Africa
Junior Championships West & Central Qualifiers served off at the Tennis Centre of the National Stadium, Abuja.
In the Girls’14&u, Marylove Edwards made a winning debut by beating Patricia Nyarko of Ghana 6-1,6-0 and she was
emulated by Sani Musa, who edged Ivorian Soulemane Quattara 6-2,4-6,7-6(4) in the Boys’ 14&u.
Other Nigerians that won their opening round-robin games are Fortune Joseph, Toyin Asogba, Peter Lawal, Gabriel Inyang and
Daniel Adeleye,
The 12-nation tourney continues on Monday.
2014 ITF/ CAT Top 8 Junior Masters fifth-ranked player, Oyinlomo Quadri, Angel McLeod, Christopher Itodo and South Africa-based Adetayo Adetunji will be leading Nigeria’s quest for a third successive title as the 2016 ITF West & Central Africa Junior Circuit gets underway in Abuja on Sunday.
According to the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), the quartet, who also played major roles in Nigeria’s winning outings at the last two editions of the tournament in 2014 and 2015, will lead a 24-player team which also has Bulus Christopher, Michael Oshewa, Gabriel Friday, Marylove Edwards, Suleiman Ibrahim, Daniel Adeleye, Timipre Maxwell and Rebecca Peter in Team A.
Peter Lawal, David Amusu, Favour Moses, Mariam Balogun, Sani Musa, Saminu Abubakar, Toyin Asogba, Chidinma Eze, Filippo Troimbi, Gabriel Richard, Fortune Joseph and Oyza Yakubi are in the team B of the host nation.
Nigeria’s coach Mohammed Ubale expressed confidence in the team to retain the regional title but stressed that more importantly, the country need to clinch the maximum eight spots available for the country to the main tournament billed for Pretoria, South Africa in March.
Meanwhile the NTF has stated that there will be no Local Organizing Committee for the tournament due to shortage of funds.
The event will now be coordinated by a team led by the Vice President of the Confederation of African Tennis Zone 2, Mr. Yemi Owoseni. He will be supported by a technical team which has Bulus Hussein, Rotimi Akinloye, Saidu Musa and NTF secretary general, Gloria Ekwempu-Chinwuko.
Benin, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo will compete alongside Nigeria at the tournament billed for the Package B of the National Stadium, Abuja.
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