The President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) Sani Ndanusa yesterday said the federation did not have high expectations from its players participating in the Africa Youths Games (AYG).
Ndanusa said in Abuja shortly after he addressed the four-man tennis contingent who departed the country yesterday for the competition.
Nigeria is being represented by two players and two officials at the AYG which is scheduled to hold from May 22 to May 31 in Botswana.
Ndanusa said the National Sports Commission (NSC) approval of two players to participate in the singles events was a challenge for the team.
He said that most times, Nigeria performed very well in the doubles events, noting that with the number of athletes, there were no chances for participation in the doubles.
“The challenge that we have now is on the size of the athletes that we are going with, which we have to manage properly.
“Playing in the doubles event is part of the areas we need to look at, but of course we are not expecting much from them.
“The team we are sending consists of only one boy and one girl, with no chances of doubles.
“You know doubles most times is where we expect something from and there is so much pressure on them to really win the singles or nothing, that is the challenge we are having,’’ Ndanusa said.
He said that they had worked on the psyche of the players and had gone through intensive training, but expressed the hope that something positive would come out of the competition.
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