2016 ITF/CAT CHAMPIONSHIPS: South Africa embassy denies Nigerian players visas

Five out of six Team Nigeria players were on Friday denied visas by the South African embassy in Abuja.

A seven-man Team Nigeria comprising six players and a coach were seeking for visa to participate in the forthcoming ITF/CAT African Junior Championship holding from March 9-18 in Pretoria, South Africa.

But only one player, Marylove Edwards and coach Mohammed Ubale were granted visa while the other five players were rejected.

Those that were denied visas are Angel McLeod, Christopher Itodo, Christopher Bulus, Gabriel Friday and Michael Osewa.

The team is scheduled to travel on Saturday but the latest development is a huge setback for its quest to excel at the tournament.

National Junior Tennis Head coach, Mohammed Ubale expressed frustration at the development saying it’s a big blow to the country’s preparation.

"The South African Embassy took us by surprise this morning (Friday) by denying five out of the six players that are going for the AJC.

"We have submitted our passports since ten days ago and they keep requesting for one thing or the other which we presented to them before they gave us appointment to come and collect it today (Friday) which was why we fixed our departure for Saturday (today) because our plan was to travel earlier," Ubale, who alongside Marylove Edwards were the only two of the seven-man contingent that were granted visas for the tournament billed for the ITF High Performance Centre, Pretoria, said.

He added: "What annoyed me mostly is the fact that which would you grant visas to just two of us when we are all covered by one letter which the organisers sent to them in the course of seeking clarifications."

NTF president, Engr Sani Ndanusa as at Friday afternoon was making efforts to make sure that the whole team were eventually granted visas as he made several calls to the International Tennis Federation headquarters in London as well as the Confederation of African Tennis in Tunis for intervention.

"It is very frustrating because virtually all the countries were scheduled to arrive the venue on Saturday but from what is on ground the earliest we can be in South Africa is Monday. The most annoying part of it is that all the players have travelled several times to various parts of the continent and even beyond for tournaments," he said.