28th February, 2012
Tennis Special can report that three wheelchair tennis players have been dropped from the initial five that were preparing for the African Championship in Kenya, which will also serve as the qualifier for the Paralympic Games in London, later this year.
Speaking before his team left the country for Kenya, National coach of the Nigerian wheelchair tennis, Frank Termena, said that he was surprised that the Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, dropped three of his players for the trip to the Paralympic qualifier.
The coach said only the NTF can give reason for this action.
“We had five players preparing for the championship but they were pruned to just two. The NTF should be in a better position to give the reason for this action, because I don’t know why they were dropped,” said Coach Frank.
However, Secretary of the NTF, Mbora Ikana, refuted the claims made by Termena, stating that the coach was responsible for the players who were dropped.
He said: “You should ask the coach why the players were dropped because he’s the one in charge of the team.”
The players that were dropped are Remilekun Basanya, Foluke Shittu and Uwazie Jude, while Nigeria and Africa’s number one, Wasiu Yusuf and Alex Adewale, who impressed in South Africa last year, made the Kenya trip.
Meanwhile, Coach Termena has expressed great optimism in the two players that were picked for the qualifier, adding that Nigeria is a force to reckon with on African continent.
“We have the continent’s best player, Wasiu Yusuf and I don’t think any country can defeat us,” he said.
—Damilare Okunola