In readiness to making an emphatic statement at the end of the Davis Cup Tennis tournament holding in Ireland, the Nigeria Tennis Federation has invited six of their best hands to camp. Of the six invited, “only four will be chosen to wear the nation’s colours” in the Irish tennis showcase. Speaking with Nigeriasports.com in Lagos, the country’s chief national coach, Rotimi Akinloye, stated that all six players have since resumed training.
He told us further that, the national squad is “now enjoying a boost with the arrival of two Nigerian tennis players, who are based in the United States. The other four guys have been here and have been training very hard to make the team.”
On Nigeria’s chances to come out of the tournament with a worthwhile statement, Akinloye replied: “As a coach, I take every opposition as a potential threat. We had met and beaten some of them, but that however, won’t be a yardstick to measure their present strength.
[photo alt="Coach Rotimi Akinloye" align=left]tennisc[/photo]
“We know that everybody is there to win and our players are aware of this. It is going to be a very stiff competition and that explains why we are not going to handle it with kids’ racquets.”
The Nigerian eventual team is expected to travel out to Ireland between July 8 and 10, 2005 for the tournament, which serves-off on July 12 and ends on July 17, 2005. Nigeria’s team to the tournament includes; Babalola Abdulmumini, Shehu Lawal, Sunday Maku, Destiny Da-Silva and Damisa Robinson.
Published: 2005-06-30 19:28:07
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