Nigeria’s number one male tennis player, Sylvester Emmanuel, started his 2019 African Games campaign on a good note even though he had to bounce back from a first set loss to defeat his Malian opponent.
The young man popularly called Major by his friends and close associates, fell short in the first set against Diallo Seydou of Mali, losing 2-6.
But the former Barcelona, Spain-based national champion bounced back in the second set in a 6-4, before taking the final set 6-0 to set the tone for the competition.
He was the only Nigerian player who was lucky on the day, however, as his counterpart, Thomas Otu, was not so lucky in his match, losing in two straight sets.
Otu, a former national champion, fell short in his tie against Ghana’s Isaac Nortey, losing in two straight sets of 3-6, 2-6.
Joseph Imeh and Emmanuel Audu will be in action on Saturday as the tournament continues in Rabat, Morocco.
As at the time of filing this report, Team Nigeria did not have more than one gold medal and five bronze medals.
Tennis followers and enthusiasts will be hoping that Nigerian tennis players will rally to produce more medals for the country as their game heats up.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep up with updates from the competition which will roll into September.