BY ADEYEMI ROBINSON-ADEFIOYE, LAGOS
The Ogunsakin brothers, Seun and Seyi, playing in the Boys 14 and Boys 12 events respectively both won through to the finals of the 2020 CBN Junior Tennis Championships taking place at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, determined to take the two titles home to Ekiti State. The petite but very strong-willed boys have been resilient and in the semifinals dismissed opponents much older than them.
Seun Ogunsakin, popularly called ‘Nadal’ by his admirers, defeated John Nubari from Rivers State 9-4 while Seyi overran Arwal Jaji from Lagos 9-1.
Seun will meet Mohammed Idris from Abuja – another highly skilled and determined player – who eliminated team mate Lucky Danjuma in the second semifinals.
Seyi will take on David Edwards, another emerging talent from a well known tennis family. Edwards is younger brother of prodigious tennis talent Marylove Edwards who reached the finals of the senior CBN Championship at age 14.
The boys 16 finals will feature David Ekpeyong of Akwa Ibom State and Maxwell Timibra from Rivers State.
Ekpeyong beat Moses Olamilekan from Ondo 9-1 and Timibra edged 13 year old Mubarak Ganiyu, a potential world class player from Oyo State who opted to play in a higher category and almost pulled through to the finals falling short 7-9.
The Girls 16 semifinals produced a major upset as Mary Udoffa who squeezed through her group in second place stunned tournament favourite, Oiza Yakubu, with rampant forehand winners that saw her go through 9-1.
Udoffa will meet Blessing Otu from the famous Otu tennis family. She beat Salammatu Haruna in a tightly contested match 9-7.
Oiza will look to her younger sister to salvage something for the family as Nene Yakubu playing in the Girls 14 category won her semifinal match against Khadijat Mohammed from the FCT 9-1.
The younger Yakubu will take on Amarachi Ezeh from Anambra who eliminated Mary Azi from Abuja 9-3.
