Dennis George Osakwe, a South Africa-based Nigerian tennis player has been dumped out of the qualifying series of the Rainoil Open Tennis Championship, after losing out in the preliminary series of the competition.
Osakwe who was hoping to make a mark in the competition, had traveled to the country from Dubai, where he was training, to participate in the national competition which kicked off on Monday, 2 December inside the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.
He had started training on the clay court at the premises, ahead of the competition, and had scaled through the first preliminary stage before falling short in the other stages of the competition, as he could not withstand the firepower of the extremely determined Nigerian stars.
The player had told Nigeria Tennis Live that there were chances of him staking a claim for the title when he was asked if he could challenge the Nigerian stars, but all that dream seem to have been shattered as he could not continue with the competition.
In the doubles, however, he is listed to participate as he will be partnering Paul Emmanuel in the team event which also kicks off later in the day.
Nigeria’s number one player, Sylvester Emmanuel, leads the pack and is closely followed by Joseph Imeh, who is gunning to retain the title he won in 2018, having played in the final in two consecutive years.
Nigeria Tennis Live will provide full coverage of actions from the tournament which will last for a full week and is being competed on the court.