28th April, 2015
Damilare Okunola
The Nigerian Pair of Moses Michael and Thomas Otu, in what looked like an unlikely upset, have progressed to the Quarter Final stage of the ongoing Tombim Abuja ITF Futures.
The Nigerian players whipped their foreign counterparts, Joshua Chetty ranked 1482 and 1661 ranked David Forchap from South Africa and Germany respectively 6-4, 7-5.
The match which was decided at the court two of the Tennis section of the Package B inside the National Stadium, Abuja Monday evening, was watched by a large crowd.
Gingered by their first round victories in the Men’s Singles, both players matched their opponents game for game before earning a hard-fought victory.
Speaking after the match, Thomas Otu, who has improved tremendously over the past few months, told P.M. NEWS Sport that he was initially scared of the white players as he knew little or nothing about them.
“But, when we played to a level, I mastered their antics quickly and with my partner, who himself is a great player, defeated them despite their ranking.
“Those players are always being overrated because of their rankings. We need more of this tournament in the country and I must also commend the sponsor of this tournament for this ITF Future.
“We are hoping for the very best and that is what we shall give to our teeming fans who have always supported us,” the Lagos-based Nigerian star added.
Meanwhile, action returns today at the money-spinning competition as tournament favourite Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan from India takes on Nigeria’s American returnee, Umaru Balamin.
Nigeria’s Christian Paul will also try to get the better of Joe Cooper from Great Britain while Ikechukwu Iloputa will come up against number seven seed Crowley Keith-Patrick from South Africa.
In the Men’s Doubles, Henry Atseye will pair Kshitij Kamal from India to play against the pair of Aaron Cortes Alcaraz and Missodey Kokou from Spain and Togo respectively, Nigerian duo of Albert Bikom and Christian Paul will trade tackles with George Darko from Ghana and Duncan MUgabe from Uganda.
Nigeria’s number one player, Clifford Enosoregbe will also partner Tinotende Chanakira from Zimbabwe against Stanilav Korshunov from Russia and Stefan Meranka from Croatia in the other match involving Nigerian players.