CBN Tennis Championships: Top Juniors fight for places in the finals

By our reporter

Heman Afaramai and Damilola Agunbiade played some exciting tennis to emerge tops in the Boy 16s round robin matches without losing a match.

They lead twelve players who will be fighting for six final spots in three age categories at the 2026 CBN Junior Championships semifinals. Afaramai from the Ikeja Police College Tennis Club will have Joel Michael from the Mainland Tennis Club as his semifinal opponent, while Agunbiade from the Calabar Sports Club will face Wisdom Effiong from the GEUF Tennis Academy in Uyo in the second semifinal.

In the Girls 12s, Amira Mohammed from Kwara State will take on Venus Babalola from Oyo State in one semifinal, while Pinky Onyemenam from Abuja will be up against Chimdiuto Obiora also from Abuja in the other. Gideon Peter from the LekMak Tennis Academy in Ekiti is favourite for the title in the Boys 12s, but will first have to see off Best Babalola from Oyo State in the semifinals. The other semifinal will feature Moroti Sowemimo from Lagos and Kingronnie Onyemenam from Abuja.

Barakat Ganiyu, another emerging junior star who was given a chance to play up one age category, made the most of it by qualifying for the semifinals in the Girls 14s and 16s categories. Ganiyu won her matches in her age group and dropped only one match in the Girls 16s to Favour James from the GEUF Tennis Academy. Ganiyu will take on Girls 16s No.1 seed, Gloria Samuel from LekMak, while James will face Omoyinka Ayinla from Ogun State.

Ganiyu’s semifinal opponent in the Girls 14s is Pinky Onyemenam from

Abuja, who also justified a play-up chance from the Girls 12s to reach the 14s semifinals. Khadijat Wuraola and Sinmi Olaniyan will play the other semifinal in the Girls 14s.

Alaba Adesina from Oyo State and Mohammed Jubril-Abdulkarim from Kwara will meet in one of the Boys 14s semis, while the other will feature Divine Ezaka from the Mainland Tennis Club and Godwin Afaramai from the Ikeja Police College Club

 The CBN Junior Championship, which has been running for over two decades, has been responsible for the strong junior tennis base Nigeria is experiencing at the moment.

The grand finale will be held at the Ikoyi Club on Saturday, starting at 10 am.

Photo: Heman Afaramai (left) in his last round robin match against Daniel Awe.