Shammah Makpa, Secretary General of Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), said he is optimistic the Nigeria Wheelchair tennis team will pick African qualification tickets in both men and women categories.
Makpa, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, said the teams will represent Africa at the World team finals in Turkey in May.
He said that hosts Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania are the countries participating in this year’s event.
The president said that the Nigerian teams are a formidable force to be reckoned with in Africa wheelchair tennis.
“In 2023, we hosted the tournament in Abuja, and the Nigerian female team emerged winners and picked the only ticket to represent Africa in Portugal.
He said that the federation has put arrangements in place to ensure that the team represented Africa in the male and female categories.
“The players are being motivated, physically, technically, psychologically, financially and otherwise.
“Team Nigeria has been putting in their best so far in the competition by beating Egpyt 3-0 in the men’s category on Wednesday and the women’s team defeating Ghana 3-0 on Thursday.
“In terms of world ranking, Nigeria is among the countries that have been ranked and all the participating countries are also ranked.,” he said.
A total of six Nigerian team wheelchair tennis players are participating in both the men and women categories.
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“The Nigerian teams are drawn in Pool C for the men’s category and in pool A for the women’s category.
“They comprised Kafayat Omisore , Kemi Oluwasegun, Foluke Shodeinde, Alex Adewale,Williams Ukari and Wasiu Yusuf,” he said.
NAN reports that the 2024 BNP Paribas World Team Cup wheelchair tennis African qualification event which started on Wednesday is expected to end on Sunday. (NAN)