Exciting Moments Await Fans, As CBN Junior Tennis Open Ends

Tennis enthusiasts and parents of Nigeria’s next generation of stars will have their feel of the best of the game today at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, venue of the final of the 2015 CBN Junior Tennis Championship.

For one week the best young players from across the country have seized the courts of the prestigious club to show Nigerians why they should be hopeful of another era of greatness in the global game.

Since Nigeria gave the world the likes of Nduka Odizor, Tony Mmoh and David Imonitie, among others, the country has been in the backwaters of the game waiting for another generation of stars to lift it to the world stage again.

That dream seems near as the on-going CBN Junior championship has shown.

The championship entered the semifinal stage yesterday with the Onoja sisters, Neku and Iye, among the heroines battling for tickets to today’s finals in the Girls 12 category.

Neku, 12, emerged second in her round robin group losing the final classification match to Chidinma Ezeh from Anambra 9-3. Iye, 10, also lost her final classification match to Timipre Maxwell from Port Harcourt 9-1.

By placing second in their groups, the Onoja sisters avoided a “sisters act” in yesterday’s semifinals. Neku met Maxwell winner of Group A while Iye took on Chidinma Ezeh in the second semifinals.

Iye Onoja also made the Girls 10 finals, where she will meet Serena Teluwo from Lagos.

Timipre Maxwell also made the Girls 14 semifinals placing second from her group behind the in-form Marylove Edwards. Maxwell met Favour Moses, who led her group, while Edwards took on Kasara Adegboyega from Ibadan.

There were several upsets in the boys’ events. Chris Itodo from Kaduna edged out Amos Michael from a semifinal place in the Boys 18s. The hard fought contest saw the Port Harcourt-based Michael squander two match points in the tiebreak to go down 9-8.

The other semifinalists were Martins Agbamu, Michael Michael and Chris Bulus, who upset highly rated Austin Stephen to earn his place.