Coach Explains Cancellation Of U-12 Tennis Championship

The Nigeria National
Tennis Coach, Ubale Mohammed on Monday said that the Female Under 12 Category in the qualifiers for the Africa Junior Tennis Championship (AJTC) had been cancelled.
Mohammed disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
He said that the female Under 12 category had to be cancelled due to circumstances beyond the control of the Nigeria Tennis Federation’s (NTF).
The coach attributed the cancellation to the fact that it was only Nigeria that presented players for the category.
“That formed the decision by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to unanimously decide to cancel the category from the qualifiers.
“Out of the nine African countries participating in the qualifiers, only Nigeria presented two players for the female U-12 category, so, the LOC in its wisdom thought it wise to scrap it.
“The LOC also decided to upgrade one of the two players to take part in the U-14 category for the country,” he said.
Mohammed also noted that the country had been doing very well so far in the qualifiers.
“My players have won all their matches so far.
“Two of our players however took ill on Sunday night and had to be walked over in their first match in the female U-14 category.
“However, it is too early to predict if we will finish tops in the qualifiers, but I know that we are going to do well by God’s grace,” he said.
The qualifiers were initially billed to feature competitions in three categories of Under-12, Under-14 and Under-16 in both the male and female events.
The winners of the U-14 and U-16 categories will represent their countries at the main continental championship in Kenya in March.
Winners in the U-12 category will participate in the talent identification project in Casablanca, Morocco at a date yet to be communicated.
The qualifiers which started on January 13 are expected to end on January 20.