By Adeyemi Robinson-Adefioye,Lagos
Top seeds in the boys’ 14 event Munarak Ganiyu and Seun Ogunsakin were given a chance to ‘play up’ in the boys 16 event and have now made the most of it.
The ‘play up” policy of the ITA Junior Tennis Circuit was aimed at encouraging junior players to aspire higher and has produced the outstanding performance of the juniors at the senior level.
Ogunsakin defeated Gabriel Inyang the fourth seed while Ganiyu beat Samod Olubuade in the decisive round robin matches to qualify. They are also in the boys’ 14 semifinals where they are favourites to win through to the finals. Luckily for the boys one of them is guaranteed to be in the boys’ 16 final as they were drawn to meet in the semifinals
There has been a standing prize of N100, 000 education grant for any player who wins two categories in one tournament and a N500, 000 prize for any junior who wins a CBN Junior and Senior singles titles in the same year. Marylove Edwards was one match away when she hit the finals of the ladies’ singles in 2017 losing to Sarah Adegoke.
All the semifinal matches have been slated to take place on Saturday.
The weeklong tournament which is taking place at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club and featuring singles competitions in boys and girls 12s, 14s and 16s is scheduled to end on Saturday with a grand finale starting at 3. 00 pm.
