Nigerian youngster, Ndidi Osaji, has been denied visa to participate in the ITF/CAT U-14 tournament in Tunisia, despite getting an invite to the event.
Osaji, ranked 21 in the African U-14 girls rankings released on Monday 31 July, automatically qualifies to participate in the event by virtue of her ranking. Moreso, she got an invite to play the competition by the organizers of the event.
According to the Confederation of African Tennis website, where details of the tournament have been posted, the Nigerian player has been accepted to participate in the two legs of the competition.
However, reports reaching Nigeria Tennis Live have it that the 13-year-old has been denied entry visa by Tunisia, despite the official invite she got to participate in the competition.
Our correspondent gathered that this restriction is premised on the North African country’s policy of checkmating illegal migration into their country by other Africans, precisely West Africans.
Entreaties made to the Embassy to convince them that the youngster will not elope when she gets there fell on deaf ears despite the fact that she presented her valid American visa.
Further findings by this medium have it that the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) already made moves to resolve the visa denial issue, but the Tunisian government has refused to shift grounds.
In the invitation letter sent to the Nigerian player since July, the tournament is billed to hold from 10 – 17 August, 2023, in Tunisia.
With this visa denial, the youngster’s tennis development and competitiveness will suffer a huge setback, having recently won doubles across two legs in Luanda, Angola, and being runnerup in the Singles.
Fingers remain crossed on whether or not the Tunisian Embassy will shift their ground on this restriction and grant the youngster visa to participate in the competition.