The Play Your Age Junior Championships in Abuja has reached its final stage, with the junior players in the various categories doing well enough to get through the draw and book their place in the final.
Play in the Boys Under-10 category began from the quarterfinal stage on Saturday, with Peter Idoko defeating Victor Hemba 4-1, 4-1 and then going a step better to beat Onyekachi Ogunjuofor in the semifinals and reach the final, where he will face Musa Isah. Isah had beaten Joel Ekpeyong 4-0, 2-4, 4-2 to reach the semifinals and then outlasted Yoganna Yakubu 3-5, 4-0, 5-3 to reach the final. Yohanna Yakubu had earlier beaten Seyi Ogunsakin 4-1, 2-4, 4-0 in the quarter-finals.
In the Boys Under-12 category, Seun Ogunsakin and Mubarak Ganiyu, both of whom came in as favourites, were knocked out in the semifinals. Before then, though, Ogunsakin had beaten Samuel Ita in the quarterfinals 4-0, 4-0, while Mubarak Ganiyu dismissed Elijah Egena by the same scoreline. In the semis, however, Ganiyu fell to second seed Ezekiel Azi 2-4, 5-4, 4-1, while Ogunshakin was beaten 2-4, 5-4, 4-1 by Mohammed Idris, who got his revenge for his defeat in the final of the Chevron Junior Championships last month.
Ezekiel Azi and Mohammed Idris will face off in Sunday’s final.
In the Girls Under-12 category, Salamatu Haruna beat Faith Adeusi to book her place in the final, where she will meet Imole Afolabi, who rallied from a set down to beat Niniola Ajulo 1-4, 4-2, 4-2.
In the Boys 14 & Under category, quarterfinal action saw Gbahan Olaniyan beat Paul Okonkwo 4-1, 4-2 for a place in the semis, while Sani Saidu defeated Monday Odey 4-0, 2-4, 4-1. Elsewhere, David Ekpeyong went past Auwualu Shehu 5-3, 4-1, while Isaac Danjuma progressed at the expense of Abubakar Yusuf, who defaulted.
In the semifinals, Sani Saidu accounted for Gbolahan Olaniyan with a 4-1, 4-1 victory to reach the final, where he will take on David Ekpeyong, who beat Isaac Danjuma 4-1, 4-1, also.
In the Girls Under-14 category, Esther Oni outclassed Favour Odey 4-0, 4-0 to reach the semis, where she went on to beat Aderonke Adeyemi 4-2, 4-2 for a place in the final. Meanwhile, Iye Onoja steamrolled Kemi Adebayo 4-0, 4-0 and will meet Esther Oni in the final.
The finals will hold on Sunday, 21 April, at the National Tennis Centre in Abuja.
Are they really playing their age? We seriously need to work on our sports by infusing credibility in all we do as a people if we want to be taken seriously. Even youngsters are being groomed in the practice of falsifying their age in order to win tournaments they are over qualified for. NTF has to sit up and ensure they rectify their shortcomings, from poor planning and logistics problems to fielding over aged players. You cannot put up a 14 year old against a 10 year old for instance and call it fair play. We hope to see changes in the coming years.