Nigerian ladies had their first-ever Fed Cup, now known as Billie Jean Cup, on what could be described as a good outing, though they could not gain the much sought-after promotion in the weekly long tennis championship in faraway Lithuania at the SEB Arena Vilnius, Lithuania.
Nigeria’s number one female tennis player, Oyinlomo Quadre, Sarah Adegoke and US-based Adesuwa Osabuohien are Nigeria’s representatives at the tournament which is the women’s version of the popular Davis Cup.
Playing in Pool C of Europe/Africa III, Nigeria faced stiff oppositions from the host, Lithuania, Cyprus, Kosovo and Armenia. The ladies played four matches in both the singles and the doubles, they were so outstanding in two beating Kosovo and Armenia to garner 6 points and loss in two matches against the host and Cyprus.
Tennis pundits, however, saw these results as not too bad for the Nigerians ladies who were facing the baptism of fire at the world stage for the first time.
Blessing Anuna, a Nigerian female player had this to sum up on the outing of her colleagues. She wrote on her Facebook page on Saturday
“STRONG to the world, we WENT, we SAW, we CONQUERED, we may not have gotten d promotion but #WeDidJustFINE being our first appearance, U guys are the best Oyinlomo Barakat Quadre Sarah Adegoke, AdesuwaOsabuohien #THANKyouBABES Una do well….
#Cyprus has appeared to Fed Cup 100times compared to us..and we are not at d bottom of the list that came to Lithuania . #AmSUPERPROUD of you girls….
Thank you NTF for featuring us, For yrs we’ve looked forward to it, infact some countries withdrew (#About7AfricanCountries pulled out) but with your resilience we made it, THANK YOU…..
Come back safely Y’all….. #WeLOVEteamNigeria
First ever #FedCupTeam”
Twenty-one nations including Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia, Kenya, Bosnia Herzegovina, Malta, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Iceland and hosts, Lithuania competed for promotion from the Euro/Africa Group III.
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