Ochei sure tennis will excel in Luanda
After weeks of preparation, Team Nigeria is expected to depart for Angola tomorrow for the fourth African Youth Games, tagged Luanda 2025.
 
Angola is the first Lusophone country to host the Games, which will be held from December 10 to 20, 2025. The event is coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence.
  
This major continental multi-sport event will bring together up to 54 African nations and young athletes aged 14 to 17 in approximately 33 sports disciplines across six host cities, including Luanda, Benguela, and Bengo.
  
The games aim to promote sport, discover and develop talents for competitions such as the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
 
The Guardian learnt yesterday that Team Nigeria’s advanced party left Abuja for Angola yesterday to prepare the ground for the young athletes and their officials.
 
However, two athletes, who have been in camp preparing for the Africa Youth Games, won’t make the party in Angola, as they were dropped by the National Sports Commission (NSC) after discrepancies were discovered in their ages.
 
The move comes as the NSC intensifies its clampdown on age cheating in Nigerian sports.
   
Meanwhile, Team Nigeria’s tennis squad are confident of success in the youth games.
 
With just four junior players and a coach on its roster, the nation enters the competition with optimism, eager to face top youth talents from across Africa.
 
Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, told The Guardian that the players chosen to fly the country’s flag in Angola are Goodnews Aina, Khadijat Mohammed, Oluwaseun Ogunsakin and Ikenna Prosper Okonkwo, with coach Akinwumi Ogunsakin as their leader.
 
Ochei stated they had a short training camp in Abuja before joining the rest of Team Nigeria for departure to Angola.
 
The president, who offered words of encouragement, expressed confidence that the young athletes will deliver podium finishes and represent Nigeria with pride.
 
He urged them to uphold discipline, professionalism, and the competitive spirit associated with the nation’s sporting image.
 
While Ochei applauded the NSC for providing logistics and welfare support for the team, he assured of Nigeria’s readiness to re-establish itself as a force in the continent’s fast-evolving tennis landscape.