Nigerian Tennis Live can report that over 160 junior tennis players have indicated their interest in participating in the 2018 edition of the Junior Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Junior Tennis Championship.
This much was revealed by Godwin Kienka, the director of the International Tennis Academy (ITA), the body which organizes the junior tournament annually.
“We hope that this year’s CBN Junior tournament will throw up a lot of exciting new talent as over 160 players have sent in entries for the championship,” he stated.
Reports have it also that the championship will kick off on Monday, 2 April at the National Stadium, Surulere and end on Saturday April 7 at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Race Course.
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The CBN Junior Championship which is, without doubt, the flagship of the Nigerian junior circuit will be featuring four categories – 10s, 12s, 14s & 16s – for boys and girls with players coming from all over the nation.
Kienka noted that entries started coming in before the dates were announced and the early rounds are taking place at the national stadium because of logistics and traffic consideration as most of the players based in Lagos stay on the mainland.
“We can see a lot of enthusiasm and determination with the young players majorly because of the breakthrough young players like Marylove Edwards and Angel Mcleod made last year. Edwards, national 14 & under champion reached the final of the CBN Senior Championship and now has sponsorship to the foremost tennis academy in the USA to pursue a pro career.
“Mcleod, a quarter finalist in the same tournament, joined Edwards at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy early this year,” the former ITF-rated umpire explained.
Oyin Quadri, Toyin Asogba, Omolade Aderemi, Omolayo Bamidele and Favour Moses will now be the favourites to win the girls’ open title this year.
The junior boys have also made tremendous progress with Christopher Bulus breaking into the senior top 10 before leaving for the USA this year. Five other 18s are also in the top 30 of the senior ranking.