Prosperity Okonkwo has now broken into the top 20 junior players on the African continent after winning his first ever J60 title in Ghana.
The Abuja-based tennis prodigy defeated the tournament’s number one seed, Daniel Adeleye, in two sets to emerge champion at the J60 Accra event over the weekend, and has rightly placed himself among the top 20 players on the continent.
Nigeria Tennis Live reports that Okonkwo, whose J60 win in Ghana was his second title win in five weeks, and his third title in 2024, moved 111 spots in the latest ITF rankings.
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In fact, his new ranking means that he comfortable sits in third for the highest ranked Nigerians on the ITF rankings and is closing up on second-placed Seun Ogunsakin, who has not competed in a while.
Okonkwo is now ranked 375 in the world, and sits just behind Francky Hoimian from Cote D’Ivoire, who was once top ten in Africa.
Adeleye who could not make it three consecutive J60 wins in Accra, still maintains his stronghold on the number one position in Nigeria, and narrowly missed out on jumping into the top 10 in Africa as he is now 11th in Africa and 264th in the world.
The biggest mover from last week’s event was Ayomiposi Agboola, whose giant leap on the rankings placed him among the top ten Nigerians on the ranking, a move which was unprecedented prior to the start of the competition.
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The Lagos Country Club player moved 781 spots to be ranked 2065 in the world and is currently on the heels of Oluwatobi Agboola, ranked 1968 in the world. Apart from Yahaya Sani Inabo who moved 113 spots to rank 1323 in the world, most of the other Nigerian players did not quite make significant moves.
Lucky Danjuma, with 11 spots movement, is ranked 925 while Franklin Jimoh, a semifinalist at the recent J60 Accra event, is now 603 in the world after moving 42 spots on the ranking.
In the girls’ category, Bright Emmanuel kept pressure on the players ahead of her after moving 148 spots to now rank 1804 while Success Ogunjobi was rewarded for her improved performance in Ghana, moving 72 places to rank 1399 as she tries to crack the top 1000 mark.
The final leg of the J60 Accra event holds this week in Ghana, and about 12 Nigerian players are still in contention for ITF points and are still battling their opponents.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep tabs on the activities of the players in Accra and report all the updates to our teeming audience scattered across the globe.