Nigeria’s Adetunji wins ITF U-18 Circuit title
Luiz sent off as Arsenal hold Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
Nigeria’s Adetayo Adetunji has been crowned champion of the girls’ singles at ITF U18 Junior Circuit which ended in Benin Republic on Saturday following a 6-4, 6-1 win over Linda Elounde of Cameroun.
The 17-year-old Adetunji, who is based in South Africa, was too handful for Elounde somehow justifying her reaching the quarterfinals at this year’s Commonwealth Youth Games in Bahamas in July.
Nigeria was however denied a double shot at the title as Christopher Bulus was edged 6-4, 6-4 by homeboy Delmas Ntcha in the boy’s semi-finals
There was no joy either for Oyinlomo Barakat Quadri, who was making her debut at this level, as her partnership with Adetunji were second best to Alexandra Antilla and Doroteja Joksovic 3-6, 6-2, 10-8 in the girls’ doubles.
On the heels of her record-breaking feat last year where she won the three legs at the U16 level, Quadri was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the singles by Indian Bhakti Bawani.
It was the same story for the Ireland-based Bola Obasoto, who partnered Moroccan Azeez Hehali, as they stumbled to a 4-6, 6-1, 6-10 loss to Ntcha and Sylvester Moumonu.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian team have now moved to Lome, Togo for the second and third legs of the pointearning tournament featuring over 80 players from 24 countries across the world.
Assistant National Junior coach Abel Ubiebi, who is leading the delegation, expressed satisfaction with the overall performance of the team. Arsenal earned their first point at Chelsea in six years a fully deserved reward for an excellent display that could even have brought victory against the Premier League champions, who finished with 10 men.
The Gunners had previously only kept one clean sheet in their past 18 league games at Stamford Bridge, so this will surely leave manager Arsene Wenger satisfied after the defensive fiasco of the 4-0 loss at Liverpool in August.
Pedro missed Chelsea’s best chance in the first half when he raced clear but was blocked by Arsenal keeper Petr Cech.
Arsenal, however, had arguably the better chances as Danny Welbeck headed wide in front of goal and Aaron Ramsey struck a post, Alexandre Lacazette firing the rebound over an open goal.
The second period was a tighter affair, the Blues’ frustrations boiling over in the closing minutes when David Luiz was shown a straight red card for a reckless challenge on Sead Kolasinac.