Nigeria’s Micheal Osewa’s dream of featuring in the 2016 ITF U14 European Tour is turning a mirage following the French Embassy refusal to issue him a visa. Osewa was selected for the five-week programme alongside three others from Seychelles, South Africa and Kenya following his impressive performance at the CAT/ITF African Junior Championship in Pretoria, […]
via French Embassy Denies Osewa Visa To ITF Euro Tour — newfanzoneblog
Team Nigeria at the weekend defeated Seychelles 3-0 to finish third at the ITF World Team Cup Junior Qualifying Championship in Tunis, Tunisia. Michael Osewa was the hero for the three-man U14 team as he defeated Damien Laporte of the Seychelles in straight sets to clinch bronze for Nigeria. The outcome was a sweet revenge […]
via World Team Tennis Cup Qualifier: Team Nigeria Grab Bronze In Tunisia — newfanzoneblog
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.
Team Nigeria underlined an intention for a memorable outing at the 39th ITF/CAT African Junior Championships taking place in Pretoria, South Africa with five of the seven players in action on Saturday bagging impressive wins.
The duo of Gabriel Friday and Barakat Quadri progressed to the last 16 following wins over Assil Boussairy of Morocco and Finatrina Andriamadison of Madagascar.
Sixth-seeded Gabriel, who defeated Cameroun’s Paul Wamba 6-2, 6-3 in his first match in the boys 14&under battled hard to beat Boussairy 7-6, 6-4 while Quadri made light work of Andriamadison 6-2, 6-2 in the girls 14&under.
Other Nigerians that bagged impressive wins on Saturday are Christopher Itodo, who defeated Fabrice Toyishime of Rwanda 6-4, 6-4 in the boys 16&under, while Christopher Bulus also brusshed aside Shaun Adriamaro of Seychelles 6-2 6-0 in the same category.
Michael Osewa also enhanced his chances of progressing to the knockout stage in the boys 14&under by beating Salum Mutabazi of Burundi 6-2 , 6-3. As it stands, Itodo, Bulus and Osewa all need to win their final group matches to qualify to the last 16.
However two Nigerians were forced to swallow the bitter pill of defeats as Marylove Edward and Adetayo Adetunji stumbled 6-2, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-0 against Makayla Lousber and Corin De Waal both of South Africa.
Gabriel and Osewa paired to beat Rushdi/Joseph Cyzia of Sudan 6-1, 6-1 to berth to the quarterfinals of the doubles while Itodo/Bulus will confront Philip Henning and Thando Longwe-Smit of South Africa.
“It was a very good day for Nigeria; most of our players were very impressive in their matches especially Gabriel who played top-class tennis to beat the Moroccan. Even the ITF team are very impressed by his performance,” Nigeria’s coach Mohammed Ubale stated.
For the second day running, rain washed off play at the 39th ITF/CAT African Junior Championships which served off on Wednesday at the Tuks Tennis Club, Pretoria, South Africa. The 14 & Under and 16 & Under championship featuring about 120 players from 25 countries had barely commenced on Wednesday before the heaven opened up which forced organizers to rescheduled all the matches to Thursday morning but all the players and officials were forced to remain indoors as the rain failed to recede on Day 2.
“We were scheduled to play two games each to cover for the suspended matches but today is even worse. It’s been raining since early morning and not even a single match has been played,” Nigeria’s coach Mohammed Ubale said.
Two Nigerians Gabriel Friday and Michael Osewa were in action on Day 1 before their matches were suspended due to rain. Friday was leading Cameroun’s Paul Wamba 6-2, 3-2 while Osewa is tied 4-4 with Eliakin Coulibaly of Cote d’Ivoire before their matches in the Boys 14&under were put on hold.
Friday is the number six seed in Pool 5 which also has Assil Boussairy of Morocco and Aymen Moussa of Algeria. Osewa is the eighth seed and alongside Eliakin, he has eleventh-seeded Schalk Van Schalkwyk of South Africa and Salum Mutabazi of Burundi to also compete with in Pool 2.
For the girls 14&under, Barakat Oyinlomo Quadri is in Pool 7 which also has Kenyan Angela Nyangweso, Madagascan Finarita Andriamadison and Celine Van Min Lee of Mauritius. Marylove Edward, the 11-year-old sensation who is competing for the first time outside the shores of Nigeria will face a baptism of fire as she faces Makayla Loubser, the third seed from South Africa in her first match in Pool 2 which is completed by Manuella Eloundou of Cameroun.
In the boys 16&under, Christopher Itodo will battle in Pool 2 alongside South Africa’s Christaan Worst, Albert Njogu of Kenya and Fabrics Tuyishime of Rwanda while in Pool 5, Christopher Bulus will come face-to-face with number six seed, Egyptian Adham Gaber, Valia Rabarijaona of Madagascar and Shaun Andriamaro of Seychelles.
In the girls 16 &under, Adetayo Adetunji, who is based in South Africa, is drawn in Pool 5 which also has sixth seed homegirl Corin De Waal, Clenia Niyonshima of Rwanda and Sariaka Radilofe of Madagascar while Angel McLeod is in Pool 7 and will slug it out with third-seeded Diane El Jardi of Egypt, Lynda Benkaddour of Algeria, who is seeded number nine and Kenyan Faith Omurunga.
The round-robin pool matches are scheduled to be played over ten days with only the group winners advancing to the next stage.
After a delay by the South African embassy, Team Nigeria were eventually issued visas on Sunday and are scheduled to depart Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in the early hours of Monday for the forthcoming ITF/CAT African Junior Championship in Pretoria.
The seven-man team was originally scheduled to travel for the championship holding from March 8-19 at the ITF High Performance Centre, Pretoria on Saturday but only two members were issued visas.
National junior tennis coach, Mohammed Ubale, who was apparently relieved after what he termed a weekend of frustration, said: “a lady in the embassy called the Secretary of the Nigeria Tennis Federation this (Sunday) morning to come for the visas.
“Although she apologized on behalf of the embassy, she was a bit disturbed that the issue was mentioned in the press stating we shouldn’t have gone that far but I don’t think the embssy should bear any grudge towards us for this because we provided all the documents they requested for on time only for them to derail our arrangements as well as preparations by denying virtually all the players visas for the championship.
Ubale said the delay which necessitated a change of travelling arrangement cost an additional N25,000 each to the seven-man team but he was more worried by the fact that the team will now have just a day to acclimatize due to the high altitude of the venue.
“Surely, we will be the last country to arrive for the tournament because all the countries are expected to be in South Africa latest by Saturday which was what we planned for.
“Anyway, we will put in our best because the players are determined to do Nigeria proud.
Alongside Ubale, the players that will be aboard the South African Airline are Marylove Edwards, Angel McLeod, Michael Osewa, Gabriel Friday, Christopher Bulus, Christopher Itodo.
Morocco-based Oyinlomo Barakat Quadri and Adetayo Adetunji, who is based in South Africa are, already at the venue.
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’s rising sensation, Oyinlomo Barakat Quadri will be among the legion of emerging tennis youngsters that will storm the 2016 ITF/CAT African Junior Championships which will hold in Pretoria, South Africa from March 9-18.
According to the ITF Developmental Officer for North, West and Central Africa, Amine Ben Maclouf, the ITF team will depart its base in Casablanca, Morocco on Wednesday and will set up camp in Pretoria on Friday.
“We will be leaving for South Africa on Wednesday after which we will take a day’s rest on Thursday and by Friday, we will begin our camping which is the last phase of training for the AJC,” Maclouf, a Moroccan stated in an email to the Nigeria Tennis Federation.
Quadri, 13, was one of the key players for Nigeria at the West and Central qualifier held in Abuja in January where Nigeria clinched top place to successfully defend the title it had also won in 2014 and 2015.
Quadri, whose brilliant performances in recent years was rewarded with a year-long ITF scholarship last October got commendations from Maclouf for her performance at the AJC qualifier.
From finalist in 2014, she won the title in Lome in 2015 but was shocked by Cameroon’s Anna Lemongo 6-2, 6-0 in her first match in the preliminary of the qualifying championship.
“She showed a great mental strength to win the girls’ 14&under title. She also displayed some of the things that she has been put through recently which is good for her game,” Maclouf, who is also the director of the ITF High Performance Centre in Casablanca, remarked after her 6-4, 6-2 win over her compatriot, Marylove Edwards in the final.
Nigeria will feature in the tournament with seven other players as the team coached by Mohammed Ubale gradually winds up its 20-day camping in Abuja.
ITF/CAT West & Central Africa Junior Championship Girls’ 16&u singles champion Adetayo Adetunji and Angel McLeod will both headline Nigeria’s challenge at the 2016 ITF/CAT U18 Championship billed for Tunis, Tunisia from February 7-13.
Nigeria junior tennis head coach, Mohammed Ubale disclosed that the pair, who helped Nigeria retain the West & Central AJC qualifiers in Abuja in January, will be joined by Andiyo Inwang, a 16-year-old born of Nigerian and German parents.
This will be the second successive year that Nigeria will be heading to the championship, with a debuting player of dual nationality as Russian-born Melissa Ifidzhen made her start as a Nigerian in the 2015 edition which was also held in the Mediterranean country.
Ifidzhen had an average outing as she made an early exit in the singles but made up for it with a semifinal finish in the doubles where she paired with Elizabeth Garos-Pam, another player that made her Nigerian debut in 2014 to reach the semifinals in the doubles.
Both Garos-Pam and Ifidzhen thereafter made stunning entrance into the Nigerian domestic tennis stage. While London-based Garos-Pam reached the singles final of the Central Bank Open – the biggest domestic championship in the calendar of the Nigeria Tennis Federation –Ifidzhen, a Muscovite, went a step higher by clinching the Women’s individual top prize as well as the doubles and mixed-doubles.
Ubale, who has been supervising McLeod’s training in Kaduna in the past two weeks, lamented the inability of Nigeria to register at least five more players for the championship, which is expected to feature about 90 players from over 30 countries, due to shortage of funds.
Nigeria’s best outing in recent years was achieved by Candy Idoko, who reached the doubles final and ended up as a quarter-finalist in the singles.
Sixteen out of the 39 players in the Nigerian camp for the 2016 ITF/ West & Central Africa Junior Circuit which will hold from January 9 -17 in Abuja will be decamped on Friday leaving the team with the final 24 players that will represent the country in the 12-nation tournament.
Nigeria junior tennis head coach, Mohammed Ubale informed that South Africa-based Adetayo Adetunji will be joining the team on Thursday as the host nation steps-up preparations for the tournament it has won its last two editions; Abuja 2014 and Lome 2015.
“It has been a very competitive camping exercise as all the players showed determination to make the fine list. Those that were invited for the first time gave a good account of themselves because they realized that the AJC is a huge platform to launch their tennis career,” he said.
Meanwhile, Angel McLeod, who is one of Nigeria’s medal hopefuls, will be given a two-day break (Thursday and Friday) to attend the burial of her mum in Anambra .
“Angel has really been on top of her game and we are very much delighted with her performance. She knows that is what her mum wants her to do; to play professional tennis. Hopefully, after the AJC, she will move to the ITF Training Centre in Morocco to further her playing career,” Ubale added.
The LOC disclosed that Senegal and Gabon are among the first set of countries that will be arriving for the tournament as they are scheduled to arrive on Thursday while Ghana, Togo, Cameroun, Sierra Leone are due to arrive on Friday.
Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Mali, Benin, Liberia are the other teams that will be featuring in the tournament which is in three categories – 12&Under, 14&Under and 16&Under.
The main Africa Junior Circuit is billed for Pretoria, South Africa from March 8-17, 2016.
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