Team Nigeria will go all out for glory when the ITF/CAT African Junior Circuit for 14 & Under gets underway in Togo on March 30.
The event, which is open to everyone in Africa, but mainly dominated by West/Central African countries, given its location of play, comprises two legs. The first leg will hold from March 30 – April 2, and the second leg will serve off immediately from April 2 – 5.
Both legs will be played in a knockout format.
Nigeria failed to move past the quarterfinals in both legs of last year’s event, but the team is in high spirits as they seek to go steps better this time around.
Suleiman Ibrahim, a gold medalist at the AJC U-14 regional qualifiers in January, Ganiyu Mubarak, Gabriel Inyang, and Gbolahan Olaniyan will lead the charge in the boys’ category, while the quartet of Oiza Yakubu, Iye Onoja, Mary Udoffa, and Esther Oni make up the girls’ team. The players will be coached by Abdulmumin Babalola, who recently led the U-12 boys’ team to a third-place finish at the AJC Finals qualifiers in Cotonou.
The Nigerian team will hit Lagos on Sunday for a 4-day training camp, which will begin on Monday, before leaving for Togo on Friday.
Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, and host nation, Togo are countries that have applied to participate.
