Nigeria’s boys’ team, wednesday failed to raise their game at the ongoing1st ITF/CAT West and Central African Teams’ Championship holding in Lagos as they stumbled to a 2-1 defeat to Benin thus making qualification a daunting task.
The boys’ team consisting Fortune Joseph, Gabriel Inyang and David Ekpeyong fell to Ghana in their opening two singles as well as their doubles match on the first day and continued their unimpressive performance losing two of their three matches to Benin on Wednesday.
With the girls’ team not in action until today, the host country endured another frustrating day despite the heroic display of Inyang who managed to put some smiles on the faces of the home fans.
The 11-year-old from the VGC Tennis Club, Lagos is the most exposed among the Nigerian players, with training at the prestigious IMG Tennis Academy in Florida in 2015 and winning two tournaments in New York in 2016 and he justified the high expectations placed on him by beating Emmanuel Udensi 6-2, 6-4.
Ekpeyong from Kodian Tennis Foundation, Port Harcourt, could not match the performance of his compatriot as he was beaten 6-4, 6-0 by Gillian Nahum while Benin took the doubles 7-6 6-2.
The result leaves Nigeria with an enormous task as they need to win all their three matches against Togo on Thursday to stand any chance of progression for the main tournament slated for September in Casablanca, Morocc
