The activities of Oiza and Nene Yakubu in Nigerian tennis seem to be growing in stock and it does not appear as if Nigerians have started seeing the best of these sisters.
Like regular stars, they had shone in previous championships, performances which many would have described as ‘a flash in the pan’, but the same cannot be said when it is fast becoming a tradition for these youngsters to win competitions back to back.
For her age, 12-year-old Oiza has already carved a niche for herself in Nigerian tennis by always springing surprises in age categories that are above hers, and this she proved again over the weekend, when she dominated and brutally defeated her opponents en route to winning in the Girls 14 & Under category at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Junior Tennis Open.
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| The Yakubu sisters and their trophy… can they win it for a record third time in a row next year? Time will tell. |
From the results since the beginning of the tournament which attracted over 200 junior players, Oiza had clearly made her intentions (to win the championship) known, and did not go below expectations as she won 9-7 in a seemingly difficult final against a formidable opponent.
This cemented her status as the back-to-back tennis champion, a feat which tennis followers will not forget in a haste. But Oiza is not the only one in her family with the ability to pull off such amazing results, Nene, her 10-year-old sibling, proved that she is indeed a Yakubu by pulling off same result.
In her category, the younger Yakubu who has expectedly been monitoring her sister’s tennis progress and wants to match (if not do better than) Oiza, completed the mother’s joy when she smashed home the winner to retain her title.
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| Congratulations to all the winners. |
Their performances just summed up the end to another fantastic junior tournament where Nigeria’s future tennis maestros are expected to stem from, but for how long can they sustain this momentum?
With the continuous relevance and ascendancy of the Yakubu sisters, it is not impossible for Nigerian tennis to witness the legendary and exotic synergy between Serena and Venus Williams, but can they do this by themselves?