Nigeria holds first Red Ball Tennis Tournament

Nigeria’s commitment to justify ITF’s identification as one of Africa’s leading hubs for talents was boosted over the weekend as the first Red Ball tournament in the country took place at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.

Over a dozen kids featured in the programme tagged MP Tiger Tennis 8&Under Red Ball Mini Round-Robin Tournament which was supported by the London Tennis Association through its top oficial Patrick Hughesman.

The Red Ball programme according to the ITF is the foremost basic teaching of tennis as the ball has low pressure which makes it stay longer in the air thus allowing kids time to make more rallies and keeping them longer in the game.

“It makes tennis more fun for the kids because it helps them to work on the ethics and its motivating to see kids of about five years rallying up to 30 times unlike the normal ball with which you can hardly see them rally five times. They want to stay longer in the game and that is good to keep their interest in the sport,” Paul Moses, a Professional Tennis Registry UK-certified coach said.

The mixed event saw Tobi Ayoola defeat Sheni Oshikoya in the final of the 5&6 category while Toluwashe Dele-Oshiga made good use of his experience he gathered at the LTA Red Ball Tournament in Roehampton, London in August as he beat Sarah Chebli to emerge champion in the 7&8 category.

The programme has already caught the attention of the Nigeria Tennis Federation which has also declared its full support.

NTF boss, Sani Ndanusa thanked the initiator noting that in the last few years, MP Tennis in conjunction with the Lagos Country Club has been playing a big role in the growth of Nigerian tennis through its numerous developmental programmes.

“In the past few years, some of our junior national players featured in the clay court tournaments at the club as part of preparation for an African Championship in Tunisia which they did very well. An attestation to this fact is the ITF scholarship which is being enjoyed by Oyinlomo Qaudri in Morocco,” Ndanusa pointed.

Morocco 2015 ITF Junior Masters Qaudri beats Burundi opponent…,

Qaudri beats Burundi opponent, battles South African for Semifinal place…

Nigeria’s Oyinlomo Qaudri underlined her status as one of Africa’s star prospect on Wednesday as she rallied from a set down to beat Burundi’s Aisha Niyonkuru to enhance her chance of a semifinal place at the ongoing Africa U14 Junior Tennis Masters in Rabat, Morocco. The tournament is for the top 8 junior players in Africa.

The 14-year-old, who is the top ranked player in the West and Central African Zone, stumbled against her opponent 6-3 in the opening set but kept her composure to win the second set 6-3 before recording another 6-3 in the final set to end the dream of the Southern African’s quest of having a share of the ITF grant for the top finishers in the five-day championship which will end on Saturday.

It was an improved performance from Qaudri who was out rallied by Morocco’s Aziz Oumaima in her opening match on Tuesday. The Moroccan enjoy full support of the home fans but she was given a tough time by Quadri, who won the second set 6-4 having fell 6-2 in the first set. Oumaima’s exposure and quality eventually saw her claiming a 6-0 win in the deciding set but the Nigerians was widely applauded by the home fans who are surprised to see the standard of play of the Nigerian teenager.

“Today she (Quadri) raised her game. There is a lot of improvement in her game. For her to play three sets with Oumaima she is on top of her game because Oumaima, who is also 14 years old, just won two ITF tournaments in Morocco,” Nigeria’s coach Mohammed Ubale said.

Standing between Quadri, who incidentally is on a year-long ITF scholarship in Morocco, is Fichardt Carmen of South Africa. They will face-off in a winner-takes-all contest by noon on Thursday.

Quadri’s compatriot, Micheal Osewa crashed out in the race for the top prizes as he lost to El Mesbahi Soufiane of Morocco 6-2, 6-3. He will be playing for the 6th and 7th classification match on Thursday.

“Micheal is a bit rusty and it shows in his performance. All the other boys have been playing tournaments to prepare for this championship,” Ubale stated.

Tunisia 2015 AJC: National Players Swoop On Titles At Country Club Tourney

Tunisia-bound national junior players will be the centre of attraction as the final of the MP Tennis Championship holds today at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.

The five-day clay court tournament is serving as the final build-up for Nigerian players to the forthcoming African Junior Tennis Championship serving off on Monday in Tunis, Tunisia.

Martins Abamu, who will be representing the country in the Boys’ U-16 category, is the overwhelming favourite for the title, while Micheal Ayoola and Michael Oshewa, who will be competing in the U-14 are also in pole position to clinch the final places.

In the girls’ U-16 category, Angel McCleod looks unstoppable to clinch the top prize but she is expected to be given a tough match by her Team Nigeria teammate Oyinlomo Quadri.

13-year-old Quadri was the only player to bag two gold medals for Nigeria at the West & Central Africa Circuit which served as qualifier for the AJC in January in Lome.

Meanwhile Serena Teluwo will battle Reya Holmes in one of the semifnal matches of the girls’ U-10 billed for Friday while Oyinkansolami Doruwoju and Mary Udofia clash in the other semifinal.

Serena, who is regarded as another star-prospect by national junior coach Mohammed Ubale, topped her group by beating Doruwoju 4-2, 4-2 and Basirat Okunola 4-0, 4-0 in her opening group matches before finishing the day with sheer perfection with another 4-0, 4-0 win over Ozia Yajubu.

Gabriel Ekundayo and Joseph Fortune will battle for a place in the final of the Boy’s U-10 with the winner confronting the victor of the tie between Kehinde Ganiyu and Stephen Akpanke.

Ahead Tunisia 2015 AJC: McCleod, Quadri Dominate At Country Club Tourney

Fast-rising Nigerian tennis teenager, Angel McCleod underlined her intention to make a great impact in the 2015 Africa Junior Tennis Championship billed for Tunis, Tunisia next week as she coasted home to comfortable victories in the on-going MP Tennis Junior Championship holding at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.

The half-caste, who recently featured in the ITF Circuit in Nairobi Kenya where she was able to amass crucial points that saw her move up in the global rankings was the star performer of the day as she defeated Lolade Holmes 4-0, 4-1 in the first of her four round-robin matches in Group A of the U-16 before going on to claim the scalps of both Toyin Asogba and Venus Ubiebi 4-0, 4-1 and 4-0,4-0 respectively to earn a spot in the knock-out stage of the five-day event serving as Nigeria’s preparation for the continental tournament in the North African country.

Another member of Nigeria’s eight-man team to the Mediterranean nation, Oyinlomo Qaudri also sustained the form that saw her claimed two gold medals for the country at the Togo 2015 West & Central African Championship that served as qualifiers.

Quadri, 13, started her Group B matches with a 4-0, 4-1 triumph over Jumai Mohammed and also breezed past Zainab Okunola 4-0, 4-0 before adding Marylove Edwards as her last casualty of the day with a 4-1, 4-1 win.

Meanwhile, national junior coach Mohammed Ubale will be on ground to assess the performance of the players. He is expected to be joined by three other members of the Tunisia-bound team, who have been fine-tuning strategies in various parts of the country.