Heman Afaramai Eases into Boys 16s Finals at CBN Junior Tennis

By our reporter

Heman Afaramai, from the Ikeja Police College Club, continued his impressive run at the CBN Junior Tennis Championship with a comfortable 9-4 win over Joel Michael of Lagos in the semifinals. 

The 15-year-old served hard and consistently throughout the match and profited from accurate backhand placements that destabilised his opponent. Afaramai will face Damilola Agunbiade from the Calabar Sports Club, who edged out Wisdom Effiong from the GEUF Tennis Academy in Uyo. Agunbiade needed a tiebreaker to overcome Effiong, who broke his opponent’s serve twice but could not capitalise.

The Girls 16s semifinals went as expected, with Gloria Samuel outplaying Barakat Ganiyu from Oyo State 9-2 and Favour Effiong from GEUF Academy defeating Omonyinka from Ogun State 9-4. Samuel and Effiong are expected to produce fireworks, as both players are determined to emerge as champions.

The Girls 14s is also expected to be very competitive as the finals will have two players, Sinmi Olaniyan from Ondo State and Barakat Ganiyu from Oyo State, who have made tremendous progress in the last six months and are big hitters.

The Girls 12s finals will feature Pinky Oyemenam from Abuja and Amira Jubril-Mohammed from Kwara, while the Boys 12s will have Peter Gideon of LekMak taking on Moroti Sowemimo from Lagos.

The Boys 14s feature Godwin Afaramai and Alaba Adesina from Oyo State, with the Afaramai brothers positioned to take two titles home.

The grand finale will take place at the Ikoyi Club on Saturday, starting at 10 am.

Photo: Luciana Sadiku – a promising future star