Akinloye assures of AAG medals in tennis

National Tennis Coach Rotimi Akinloye has assured that the tennis team to the 11th All Africa Games would win medals for the country at the event to be staged in Congo.

The Games are scheduled to run from Sept. 4 to Sept. 19 in Congo, Brazzaville.

Akinloye said in an interview in Kaduna that he was satisfied with the team’s level of preparation for the Games.

He said the National tennis team won gold, silver and two bronze medals during the 10th edition of the Games in 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique.

“I want at assure that we will do better than what we did in 2011, where we got one gold, one silver and two bronze in Maputo, Mozambique.”

The current team would have eight players including four men and four women that had been camping in Kaduna ahead of the Games.

“We want to ensure that the players are physically fit, technically sound and with good appreciation of the latest techniques of the game. We went through the preliminary stages, where 16 players were invited but we have dropped eight in order to stabilise fast.

“We had trials where we had to take very difficult decisions to make, because from the matches played we saw that not one player was easy to drop but, we were able to select the best eight.”

He said that those that eventually made it include, the National number one seeded player, Clifford Enosoregbe (Benin), Thomas Otu (Lagos) Christian Paul (Abuja) and Moses Micheal (Abuja).

The women include, U.S.- based junior player, Elizabeth Pam, Melisa Efizhen, Osarhemen Eirhunmde and Sara Adekgoke (Ibadan).

Akinloye said the team would participate in the singles and doubles at the competition.

“I am optimistic that we will bring back two gold medals even though the competition is going to be tough.”

Akinloye then commended the Federal Government for support given to them so far. “We thank the Government for the support given to us to stage the training sessions from Abuja to Kaduna”. (NAN)