The inaugural edition of the Chevron Junior Tennis Championship, an invitational tournament, will kick off on the 26th of March through to the 31st at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

The tournament, which is a part of the ITA Junior Circuit and run by the International Tennis Academy, will have four categories – the Boys’ 12 & Under, the Girls’ 12 & Under, the Boys’ 16 & Under and the Girls 16 & Under. All categories will feature 16 participants each except the Boys 16 & Under, which will feature 32 players.

In December last year, the Chevron Junior Tennis Development Program kicked off in Warri with a tennis clinic and enlightenment talk for aspiring tennis stars.

The program which covered five cities—Warri, Lagos, Akure, Port Harcourt and Abuja—gave participants the basic tennis skills, information to enable them take up the sport, competitively or for recreational purposes, and knowledge to follow the game at the highest level. Additionally, they got tips on how to succeed in life and be good citizens.

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Participants during the tennis clinic.

According to the director of the ITA, Godwin Kienka, the five major strokes of tennis—serve, forehand, backhand, volley and overhead—were taught in the sessions in all the target cities, and the participants can now demonstrate and attempt to play that.

Other junior tournaments on the ITA Junior Circuit set to hold this year are the NNPC/SNEPCO tournament, the 19th edition of the NNPC/Chevron Junior Tennis Masters, the 13th edition of the CBN Junior Tennis Championship, and the Zenith Bank ‘Next Gen’ Junior Tennis Masters. The director stated that dates for the tournaments will be confirmed when the country’s elections are over.

Winners in all categories in these tournaments will take home rackets, tennis shoes, tennis bags and many other tennis kits.

This system has produced players who are now on the national scene. Marylove Edwards, Angel McLeod, Oyinlomo Quadre, Christopher Bulus, are among those to have come through such.