Sports
Africa Junior Tennis Tourney: Nigeria Sure To Win Gold
Nigeria is sure of getting a gold medal in both the girls and boys U-14 and U-16 categories at the ongoing African Junior Tennis Championship in Togo.
Number one seed, Seun Ogunsakin, battled his fiercest rival and friend, Mubarak Ganiyu, for a place in the final of the Boys U-16 on Monday.
At the moment, the duo is Nigeria’s most talented youngsters, and yesterday’s meeting was their 20th battle inside the court. Honor was on the line as Ogunsakin, who is the tournament’s No 1 seed. He had won 10 of their 19 previous meetings, while Mubarak was looking to equal the record head to head.
In a tough battle that went on for over two hours, Ogunsakin got the better of Mubarak in two tight sets. The Ekiti-born player won 7-6, 6-4 to advance to the final of the competition. He is the tournament’s number one seed and has been tipped as clear favorite for the gold.
Bright Emmanuel also qualified for the final of the girls U-14 event, yesterday, after shocking Ndidi Osaji, who was a favourite at the start of hostilities.
She beat Osaji 6-1, 6-2 in a match of deuces, to become the first Nigerian medalist at the competition.
Also, Khadijat Mohammed’s 6-0, 6-2 defeat of her opponent ensured an all-Nigeria final in the girls U-14 event. She will play today against Bright Emmanuel, another bright junior player, for the gold medal.
Earlier yesterday, Ogunsakin had a field day against Saheed Boateng of Ghana, winning 6-3, 6-3 to set up the mouthwatering semifinal clash against Mubarak, who also saw off Yves Segui Kouadja from Ivory Coast. The Nigerian won in two str aight sets of 6-3, 6-4.
Yahaya Sani cramped against Pakome Kakpo from Benin Republic, though he was trailing 3-6 against his opponent. Etoro Bassey, who looked to leave her mark in the tournament, also suffered the same fate, as she lost despite leading a set to love and was 2-0 up a break in the second set.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.