.Cote d’Ivoire withdraws from event
Reya Holmes’ dream of representing Nigeria at junior international level has been put on hold following an injury she sustained while preparing for the ITF/CAT West and Central Africa Junior Tennis championships which serves off from April 25 to 30, at the National Stadium, Lagos.
The 10-year-old, born of Nigerian mum and British dad, has been one of the talented prospects in Nigerian junior tennis and had relished the chance of featuring in the AJC. However, she twisted her ankle while featuring in a tournament in London during the week in preparation for the tournament.
“It’s so unfortunate she won’t be in the Nigerian team any longer despite the commitment to have a very good tournament. She twisted her left ankle during a match in London and she is now on POP (Plaster of Paris) because the injury is a bit serious,” her coach, Paul Moses said on Sunday.
The absence of Holmes has now guaranteed the trio of Serena Teluwo, Iye Onoja and Oiza Yakubu their places in the girls’ team for Nigeria while Daniel Adeleye, Gabriel Inyang and David Ekpeyong form the boys’ team.
It would be recalled that Oyinlomo Quadri, another Nigerian bright star also cropped an injury which made her to wear the Plaster of Paris (POP) on her hand. Reya Holmes becomes the second athlete on the injury list. From our tennis desk, we pray for their quick recovery and return to national duties.
Meanwhile, Benin, Togo and Ghana have confirmed their participation in the event which will see two teams each in the boys’ and girls’ categories qualify from CAT Zone 2 to the Africa Junior Championships billed for September in Casablanca, Morocco.
Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) scribe, Mariam Akande, also hinted that Cote d’Ivoire have withdrawn from the tournament.
