Melissa makes winning start in debut for Nigeria
RUSSIAN-born Melissa Ifidzhen began her debut for Nigeria on a winning note yesterday when she paired with Elizabeth Garos-Pam to beat Algerian duo of Saadia Belhadj and Sihem Sahli in the girls’ doubles event of the 38th ITF/CAT African Closed Junior Championship holding in Cairo, Egypt.
The 16-year-old, who is accompanied by her dad to the clay-court tournament, showed great composure and understanding with her London-based partner, Garos-Pam, who is also enjoying the support of her dad at the tournament featuring about 80 players from over 20 countries.
They dispatched their North African opponents 6-0, 6-3 in less than an hour in the first round tie. However, both players recorded mixed fortunes in their match for glory in the singles as Garos-Pam lost narrowly to Mariam Mujawimana of Burundi 7-6 (6), 6-3 in a close contest, while Ifidzhen, due to her point haul on the ITF junior rankings was drawn bye to the second round.
Ifidzhen now faces a tough battle as she confronts Lee Barnard of South Africa for a place in the third round. The seventh-seeded Barnard was also drawn bye. Meanwhile, Nigeria has written to the ITF to change the country of representation for Melissa as the Muscovite is still having a Russian identity.
Explaining the request, the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Sani Ndanusa, stated, “Melissa is still being referred to as a Russian player, but we have written to the ITF through her father to effect the change, which would be done soon.
“We experienced the same problem when Garos-Pam started playing for us as she was depicted as a British player, but it was rectified later.”
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