CBN Junior Tennis Sets up Promising S’final Matches

The CBN Junior Tennis Championship taking place at the National Stadium, Surulere,

has reached crucial stage with very promising semifinal matches lined up in four age groups.

The tournament which had a record entry of 215 players, has, according to the International Tennis Academy (ITA) – organisers of the championship, thrown up a lot of new talent especially in the 10 to 14 age bracket.

“The level of skill these boys are displaying is really surprising and most of these very promising players are coming from all over the place in addition to traditional tennis cities,” Director of the ITA, Mr Godwin Kienka noted thursday.

In the Boys 14, Daniel Adeleye from Ekiti beat Jimoh Taofik from Ibadan 9-1 to set up a semifinal tie against Joshua Maxwell from Port Harcourt who eliminated Sunday Ameh from Lagos 9-6. The other semifinal will feature Michael Akinmusere of Ibadan and Friday Victor of Port Harcourt.

Four of the most promising juniors in the girls’ 14 event made it to the semifinals.

Oiza Yakubu the No.1 seed beat Favour Ijaola from Abeokuta 9-1 while Mary Udofa from Kogi also defeated Blessing Otu from Lagos 9-1.

Serena Teluwo who moved up from the girls 12 beat Esther Marshall and would meet Chidinma Ezeh from Anambra in the second semifinals.

One of the most exciting quarterfinal matches came in the boys 12 where Ganiyu Mubarak played well beyond his years to beat Arwal Garba from Kano 9-2. Musa Usman made up for his teammate’s loss by beating Atanda Quyom from Lagos.

In the girls’ 16s semifinal, Omolade Aderemi from Ondo will take on Kasara Adegboyega of Ibadan in one semifinal while Toyin Asogba from Lagos will meet Favour Moses from Kaduna in the second semifinals.

The finals which comes up Saturday from 12 noon will take place at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Race Course.

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