More rewards are coming to Nigeria’s tennis following the impressive outing of the country at the 2016 ITF/CAT Africa Junior Championship in Pretoria, South Africa as the ITF has listed the country’s Boys’& 14 under team for the World Team Cup African qualifiers.
According to an e-mail sent to the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) by the General Manager of the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT), the qualifiers which is scheduled for June 3 through June 18 at the Clay Court of La Marsa Tunis, Tunisia will see Nigeria jostling alongside Seychelles, Mauritius and host Tunisia for the sole ticket of the main tournament billed for Spain later in the year.
South Africa and Kenya are the alternate teams in order of priority.
“The listing of our junior teams is a reflection of the growth that Nigerian tennis has made at the junior level in recent years and we can only get better if all hands are on deck,” NTF President, Sani Ndanusa, said yesterday while appealing to corporate and individual support for tennis in Nigeria.
The offer came after the country was listed as Africa’s first alternate ahead of Kenya for the Junior Davis Cup for the Boys’ 16& under which was as a result of Nigeria’s best outing in the history of the tournament.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritius and Tunisia are also listed for the qualifiers.
Michael Osewa was Nigeria’s star performer at the 11-day tournament where he reached the final, losing the boys’ 14& under title match to Damien Laporte of Seychelles.
