Emmanuel, Ndanusa sure of Davis Cup promotion

@shagcy The star player of the Nigerian team to the just-concluded Davis Cup Africa Group III, Sunday Emmanuel is confident Nigeria will get promoted to the next stage of the competition next year.

The 18-year-old, who is the youngest member of the team, also expressed delight at making his debut at the Davis Cup, adding he is poised to help Nigeria to a more rewarding outing in subsequent years.

“I’m happy to play in the Davis Cup because it is part of my dream as a tennis player. I was very hopeful that we will get promotion because we have a very strong team. Some of us also played some tournaments like the Tombim Open, Dayak Championship and the CBN Open which all served as preparations.

“With the experience I got this year, I’m looking forward to next year and I believe we will make it next time,” Emmanuel stated.

NTF President, Engr. Sani Ndanusa, in his reaction commended the team, declaring that Nigeria stands a good chance of getting promotion to the world group in the next few years particularly due to the promises shown by the young players that debuted.

“Going by the performances of the two new players Emmanuel and Michael who played the singles matches, we are very sure that in some few years from now, we will not only move to Group II but get to the world group which has always been our ultimate target,” Ndanusa declared as he also commended Lawal and Babalola both with a combine 24 years of experience in the Davis Cup.

Nigeria rounded off the tournament with an impressive 2-1 win over Kenya on Saturday to place 5th in the ten-nation tournament held in Madagascar.

Led by playing captain Shehu Lawal, Nigeria’s undoing was its slow start to the tournament losing 2-1 to Namibia which was followed by another 2-1 defeat by Morocco.

The team puts up a courageous display to beat Cameroun 3-0 and despite another 3-0 triumph over Mozambique, the team missed out of the top two position that would have seen them battle for a promotion tie.

Sunday Emmanuel was the star player of the Nigerian team which was completed by the duo of Moses Michael and Abdulmumin Babalola.

Emmanuel won four and lost one of his singles matches to better that of Moses 2-3 record while Lawal and Babalola have a 4-1 record in the doubles.