Elizabeth Garos-Pam helped Nigeria to win a gold medal at the girl’s doubles of the ITF West& Central Africa Circuit which ended over the weekend in Benin.
The 16-year-old partners Nicole Dzenga of Zimbabwe to beat Nariman Abo Bark of Egypt and Esperence Follykoue of Benin 6-2, 6-2 at the Tennis Club de L'Amitie Cotonou.
What would have been a total dominance by Nigeria was curtailed as Joseph Ubon, who won the two phases of the Togo version of the point-winning tournament, fell 6-4 0-6 7-6(3) to Gueninle Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire in the boy’s singles final.
Ubon, who had beaten Ivorian en route his victorious outing in Togo, was also on the losing side as his combination with Mohammed Mohammed stumbled to a 6-3, 3-6 10-4 defeat to the duo of Gueninle and Chisomo Lumeta of Malawi in the boy’s doubles final.
Nigeria Tennis Federation President, Engr. Sani Ndanusa commended the performance of the Nigerian players at the event which served off in Togo.
“The past three weeks have been great for Nigerian tennis even though we are a bit disappointed that we couldn’t hold on to the titles in Benin. The potential of our junior players have been exhibited at the global stage and we will surely build on this based on the developmental programmes that we have embarked on,” Ndanusa said.