AJC Qualifiers: Team Nigeria Battle Tough Togolese, Cameroonian Oppositions In Crunch Final Tie

Team Nigeria will cap a fine week of tennis competition with a defeat of Togo and Cameroon in the respective U-16 Girls and Boys final match at the ongoing ITF West and Central African Junior Championships taking place in Lome, Togo.

The youngsters from Nigeria proved to be stronger than oppositions in the team events as they kept trudging on with one impressive after the other, the trend continued on Monday, 14 January.

In the U-16 Girls Semifinal clash against Cameroon, Marylove Edwards fought really hard before defeating Stadfany Nformi 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 just as her compatriot, Rebecca Ekpeyong thrashed Patricia Wamba in two straight sets of 6-4, 6-3.

For the doubles, Mary Udoffa’s combination with Ekpeyong could not produce the desired result as the Nigerian side crashed to a 4-6, 2-6 defeat, but it was not enough to stop the Nigerians from advancing to the final of the tournament.

The Boys appeared to have perfected the act of beating their opponents without ‘stain’, as their match against Ghana turned out to be. In the first match, Matthew Abamu outclassed Okine Richard in two straight sets, winning 6-4, 6-3 while Kushimo made light his match against Kenneth Aszoukatse, as he whipped him 6-1, 6-1.

Mukhtar, who’s proud to don the green and white colours of Nigeria, made sure of a clean sheet for his fatherland when he partnered Kushimo to the defeat the Ghanaian pair of Okine and Dowuona in two clean sets of 6-0, 6-2.

Nigeria Tennis Live gathered that the U-14 Girls were not as emphatic as their senior colleagues as they crashed 1-2 to Benin Republic, but still stand a chance of progressing from their round robin group.

Iye Onoja seemed to have lost her firepower when she played against Nahum, as the Beninoise thrashed her in two straight sets of 3-6, 4-6; and even though Oiza Yakubu started a ‘revival’ with a hard fought 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win over Rodea, the doubles just wouldn’t go their way.

Youngster Serena Teluwo’s partnership with Iye Onoja could not conquer the girls from Benin, as the Nigerians gallantly lost 1-6, 4-6.

The results from other groups are being awaited to determine if the Nigerian U-14 girls will advance beyond their group or not, as they have not lost in any of their matches since the commencement of the team event.

Nigeria Tennis Live will keep tabs with the players who will be playing their finals today inside the Stade D’Omnisport in Lome, Togo, and report the outcome to our teeming audience.