Russian-born Teenager to Debut for Nigeria

Nigeria is set for the 2015 ITF/CAT African U-18 Tennis Championship holding between April 5 and 10 in Cairo, Egypt with a Russian-born Nigerian  player, Melissia Ifidzen,  included in  five-man team.

The 16-year-old, who lives in Moscow, agreed to play for Nigeria following talks between the President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation, Sani Ndanusa, and the Nigerian father of the teenager. Melissia is born of a Russian mother.

“I’m happy to tell you that we will be going to the tournament in Egypt with lots of promising players notably of which is the 16-year-old Melissia Ifidzen,” Mohammed Ubale, Nigeria junior tennis coach confirmed, adding, “I have seen some of the tapes of her matches and she has what it takes to be a champion.”

Other members of the team for the clay-court tournament are London-based Elizabeth Garos-Pam, Adetayo Adetunji, who is based in South Africa, Angel Macleod and Sunday Emmanuel.

Ubale who is scheduled to travel to the North African country on Saturday, said the team looks promising and will be buoyed by the fact that Nigeria had a memorable outing at the just-concluded Africa Junior Tennis Championship for the U14 & U16 where Michael Osewa won a bronze.

“This is one of the strongest team that Nigerian will be presenting for the championship in recent years. For example, Elizabeth (Garos-Pam) has improved so much in the last year and she is now ranked in the top 400 in the world. She stands a very good chance to excel in Cairo,” he stated.