Dala Championship: Imeh Sends Shehu Packing As Idoko Hammers Babalola To Land In Semis

The ongoing Dala Hard Court Tennis Championship in Kano has shown that the younger generation of Nigerian tennis players may have overtaken their senior counterparts.

According to reports from the ancient city of Kano, the likes of Clifford Enosoregbe, Henry Atseye Shehu Lawal and Abdulmumin Babalola have been bundled out of the 31st edition of the hard court tournament.

Nigerian Tennis Live gathered that Joseph Imeh was responsible for the scalps of Atseye and Enosoregbe, defeating them with the same scoreline in two straight sets of 6-3, 6-2 before digging deep to send Lawal packing, winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.


Imeh looks like a sure bet to win the Dala Hard Court championship in Kano.

With this result, Imeh is fast proving to be Nigeria’s best player of the outgoing year after putting up scintillating performances at the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship as well as the NCC Tennis League where he has steered his Team Muller to the finals of the money-spinning championship.

Now in the semis of the Dala championship, Imeh will face off with Uche Oparaoji a qualifier who has also been astonishing throughout the championship.

In other results, Emmanuel Idoko, a former American trainee, put up a virtuoso display to see off the ageless Babalola, winning in two straight sets of 6-1, 7-6(4) to set up a meeting with former national champion, Thomas Otu, who himself thrashed Iloputa Ikechukwu 6-3, 7-6(8).

The semi final matches of the tournament will hold on Friday, 24 November, as the tournament gets to the final stages.

Nigerian Tennis Live will strive to bring reports from the remaining days of the tournament and the eventual winners.