Heman Afaramai from the Ikeja Police College Tennis Club and Gloria Samuel from the LekMak Tennis Academy in Ado Ekiti won the BOYs16s and Girls 16s titles at the grand finale of the 2026 CBN Junior Tennis Championship which ended at the Ikoyi Club Saturday.
Afaramai who started with a convincing win over the No.1 seed, Isah Yahaya, in the round robin phase, apparently drew enough confidence from that win to sweep through the field. The final against Damilola Agunbiade from the Calabar Sports Club proved to be Afaramai’s biggest test as he trailed 6-7 in the pro-set. But, with his mother cheering him on from the stands, he broke back for 7-7 and went on to win the next two games. Afaramai also got the most outstanding player of the tournament award.
Samuel who said at the beginning of the tournament: “It is my turn to dominate the juniors” matched her words with action as she completely obliterated the field losing only 2 games in three round robin matches and beating Favour James from the Uyo-based GEUF Tennis Academy 9-2 in the finals.
The rest of the final matches, in a competition which featured three age groups – Boys and Girls 12s, 14s &16s – went as expected.
Pinky Onyemenam from Abuja who got the MOP for girls, defeated Amira Mohammed from Kwara 9-3 to win the Girls 12 title while Barakat Ganiyu from Oyo State was pushed in the opening games of the Girls 14 final by Sinmi Olaniyan from Ondo State but came through 9-5.
The hope of the Afaramai’s to take home two titles was dashed when Alaba Adesina from Oyo State out-rallied Godwin Afaramai to win 9-6 in the Boys 14s.
The LekMak Academy got their second title in the Boys 12s where Gideon Peter outplayed the 9 year-old emerging talent, Moroti Sowemimo.
Besides the titles and runners-up trophies, the International Tennis Academy, organisers of the championship, introduced some novel awards to encourage coaches and parents.
The award for the most outstanding male support for a player went to Mr Tunde Agunbiade from the Calabar Sporrts Club who has played the father and coach role for his son Damilola. Mrs KIkelomo Babalola from Oyo won the outstanding support award for the women for her role in pushing her 10 year-old daughter, Venus, to become a potential superstar.
The grand finale was well attended by top level management and staff of the CBN and had Mr Eero Toivainen, Head of Trade and Commerce of the Finnish Embassy in Nigeria and his wife Tuuli, a former junior champion of Finland as Special Guests of Honour.
