Paul Erewuba
Men and women’s top seeds of the 2019 edition of the annual Chief Joseph Omotosho Adeyemi-Bero memorial U-14 boys and girls junior tennis tournament, Isaac Silas and Neme Yakubu, lived up to expectation when they surpassed all oppositions to win the tournament.
Playing in the final at the Tennis centre court of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, men’s singles top seed, Isaac Silas defeated debutant, Chinedu Sunday aka “Omo Iya Abacha” in two straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to lift the trophy in a hard but entertaining final that kept the audience cheering all through.
Chinedu, a student of Ansar-UD-Deen junior High School who was playing his first tennis tournament ever, blamed inexperience for his defeat, while women’s top seed, Neme Yakubu, had an easy ride over her opponent, Sarah Musa, whom she dropped in two straight sets, 6-3, 6-0 to emerge champion.
Sarah, who almost crashed in the second set due to distractions, praised Neme Yakubu for being a better player, having beaten her in the past, but promised to avenge her defeat when they meet again.
The men and women’s singles winners got brand new Laptop each in addition to the tournament trophy, tennis rackets, balls, T-shirts and other juicy items to aid their tennis career courtesy of the Adeyemi-Bero family, while other players that featured in the weeklong exercise, ranging from the semi-finalists to the last person in the preliminaries, also smiled home with gift items, including a nine-year-old, Bright Emmanuel, who was commended by Dr. Adewunmi Adeyemi-Bero for cruising to the semi-finals, where she lost to the eventual winner, Neme Yakubu..
Dr. Adewunmi Adeyemi-Bero equally thanked every one who contributed in no small way in making this year’s championship a huge success.