boundless-volume-1

SPORTS
Gabriel Inyang
Marylove Edward
Nduka Odizor
NIGERIA TENNIS ON
THE RISE AGAIN
When the Nigeria
boys’
team surprisingly
failed to
pick one of the two tickets
reserved for West and Central
Africa to the African
Junior Championship billed
for September in Casablanca,
Morocco, Nigeria’s best
performer at the team event,
Gabriel Inyang knew he was
not going to be able to show
his skills to the rest of the
continent when most of his
peers were dazzling in the
North African nation.
It was the first time that
the tournament would be
holding on its own and Nigeria
was specifically given the
hosting right by the International
Tennis Federation
( ITF) due to the constant
progress it had been making
at the junior level despite
the fact that as many as five
other nations were in line for
the same privilege.
Inyang had waited for
the opportunity to show his
skills to the continent having
gone on a month-long
training tour to the United
States towards the end of last
year just to make sure that
all expectations were met
as Nigeria is the unrivalled
superpower of the region – a
claim that is attested to by
the country’s winning of the
last six editions of the regional
championships.
Gabriel Inyang played
two junior tournaments
in Florida and beat all his
opponents to be crowned
champion. But, on April 27,
2016 when the boys from
Ghana and Benin Republic
were being decorated with
gold and silver medals at the
end of an exciting tournament,
the 11-year-old was
wearing a dejected look.
However, less than five
minutes later he was soon
beaming with smiles as ITF
Referee, Amine Ben Makhlouf
announced that one of
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