Nigeria’s
Micheal Osewa look set to be rewarded by the International Tennis Federation
(ITF) with a European Tour following his brilliant display at the recently
concluded 39th ITF/ CAT African Junior Championships in Pretoria, South Africa.
Although
Osewa failed in his bid to be crowned Africa’s best player in the Boys’
14&under category by losing to Damien Laporte of the Seychelles in the
final held at the ITF High Performance Centre in Pretoria, he seems to have
done enough to be among the few players that will be chosen across all the continents
by the world governing body of tennis for the tour.
Osewa’s
silver medal outing was the best in Nigeria’s history at the 25-nation event
which is the biggest junior tennis in Africa.
Nigeria’s
junior tennis head coach, Mohammed Ubale said on the team’s arrival in Abuja on
Sunday that the 14-year-old, alongside Laporte, Ryan Randiek of Kenya
Khololwalm Monsti of South Africa and a host of other players, will now be
upgraded to the 16&under category in next year’s edition having been
identified as one of Africa’s talented prospects in tennis.
“From all
indications, Osewa should be among the players that will be in the European
Tour where players feature in junior tournaments across five European countries
namely England, France, Germany Belgium and Holland. The players will be
assembled for a week or two by the ITF before embarking on the tour which could
last for about two months,” said Ubale, who heaped praises on Osewa for
accounting for the exits of two highly ranked players notably of which was top-seed
Younes Adnane of Tunisia despite losing his first set at the 11-day
championship.
The European
Tour is part of the ITF developmental programme with players having the luxury
of playing in the junior category of the French Open and Wimbledon Open.
Nigeria’s
Candy Idoko was selected for the tour in 2012 after placing joint-third in the
same category in 2012 held in Gaborone, Botswana but could not attend due to
visa-related issues.
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