The Gbolahan Odele Junior Tennis Championship has produced unprecedented winners in Nigeria’s junior tennis circuit after an exciting finale in Lagos.
The week-long junior tournament sponsored by Chief Gbolahan Odele was attended by players from about ten States across the country including Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Bayelsa, Cross River, FCT, Ekiti, Osun and Benue.
Nigeria Tennis Live reports that the final round of matches in the Boys and Girls U-12, 14, 16 & an unplanned Youth categories were concluded on Saturday, 24 August, 2024.
The winners who emerged in each of these categories were well-deserving of their wins as the competition was fierce among the youngsters who participated in the competition.
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Omoyinka Ayinla won her first ever tennis title when she defeated another outstanding player, Mabubak Razaki, 4-0, 4-2 in the Girls U-12 final while budding tennis sensation, Goodluck Tersoo, was the better player in the Boys U-12 final.
The Benue tennis youngster defeated Daniel Usoh after staging a massive comeback from 0-3 down in a terse second set match which ended 4-2, 5-3 in favour of the mohawk king who won his second title in two weeks.
13-year-old Gloria Samuel from Ekiti State continued her dominance in the Girls U-14 after defeating Success Godwin 6-2, 6-0 in the final match while Damilola Agunbiade showed that he has arrived in junior tennis by winning the Boys U-14 final.
The Cross River-based 14-year-old capped his final year in the U-14s with an astonishing 6-3, 6-1 win over Bayelsa State’s Alex Clarkson.
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David Edwards proved to be a constant thorn in the flesh of the U-16 boys after seeing off Gbolahan Olawale in an epic final match which ended 6-2, 6-1. The win puts the pair at 1-1 in their head-to-head ratings.
Another Ekiti State tennis prodigy, Goodnews Aina, proved to be a handful when she played against Alice Paul from Ondo State in the Girls U-16 final as she powered to a 6-3, 6-4 win while Fortune Joseph outplayed Precious Aliya in the youth category with a 6-1, 6-3 win.
Winner in the Boys U-16 category went home with a N60,000 prize money while the runner up got N50,000 for his effort; U-16 Girls winner took home N50,000 with the runner up pocketing N40,000.
In the Boys U-14, the winner got N50,000 while the runner up was rewarded with N40,000; the Girls U-14 winner pocketed N40,000 while the runner up received N30,000. The winner in the Boys U-12 category smiled home with N40,000 just as the runner up was rewarded with N30,000.
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While the Girls U-12 winner was appreciated with N30,000, the runner up was awarded N20,000 cash gift for her effort.
The winner of the youth event which was unprecedented got a consolatory N20,000 cash gift for his effort, thus the Gbolahan Odele tennis competition came to a beautiful conclusion inside the Adejumo Tennis Complex in Ejigbo, Lagos.