Alhaji Adewale Isa national open junior tennis tourney enters semi- final stage
By Ifeanyi Eduzor
The on- going third edition of Alhaji Adewale Isa memorial national junior open tennis championship currently going on at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos will enter Semi-final stage on Friday, 5, August, 2022.
According to the results from the quarter- final matches decided Thursday, August, 4, in the U-12 boys category, Ogunsakin Oluwaseun will meet Michael Joel Prosper in the first semi- final clash while Amasiani Chukwbuikem will play Egbeyemi Stephen in the second semi- final game while it will be the turn of Lorelay Hozendoff and Emeka Favor in the first match of the girl’s category with Adebayo Temilola Samuel meeting Ayinla Ogunlolade in the second game.
The U-14 boys category will be between Onyekachi Oguejiofor and Kazeem Adejola just as Bello Yauzar will play Hember Peter in the second game.
In the girl’s category, it will be between Kadiya Mohammed and Onyema Paul with Aina Okiri meeting Mary Akinrinade in the second game.
The semi- final game will be rounded up with the U-16 matches where in the boys category, Oluwaseun Ogunsakin will face Lawal Nubari with Agboola Ayomitosin meeting Ganiyu Mubarak while in the girl’s category, it will be the turn of Bright Emmanuel and Sarah Musa with Oluwatomitan Israel Agholor playing Eunice Iorlumun to complete the race.
Meanwhile , son of late Alhaji Adewale Isa, Nurudeen Isa has expressed happiness at the turnout and level of competitiveness; saying that it has justified their decision to move the competition to Lagos.
‘I’m very excited with the large turnout of young tennis players in this tournament. When we were holding it in Kaduna, it was like a regional chapionship but after consultations with the national junior Coach, Ubale Mohammed, we decided to bring it to Lagos in order to have more juniors that we’ve not seen before and its a thing of joy that many junior players are participating in the week long tournament.
” To encourage these young players, we’re going to give them tennis equipments like balls, rackets and canvass amongst others which you know are very expensive in the open market and will go a long way in helping them improve their game.
He further stated that the family has future plans of taking some of the talented players to the United States where they will have the opportunity to combine sports with education.
” Part of our future plan is to take some of these junior players to the United States where they will combine education with sports and right now I’m discussing with some of my friends and those players discovered by our late father to make it happen”, he stressed.
The championship is being organized by children of late Alhaji Adewale Isa in memory of the late coach who is credited with discovering many talented tennis players for the country.
