Youth Tennis Championship underway in Yaounde

Over hundred youths from all over the national territory are currently taking part in a tennis youth championship at the Presidential Guard sports complex in Yaounde.

The championship which began on Monday July 28 is reserved for athletes of the minim, Benjamin and cadet categories.

According to the Secretary General of the Cameroon Tennis federation, Jean Marc Njike, the championship is aimed at detecting fresh talents for the sports discipline so as to create a broad base of talents.

The championship, he said, is usually organized during the holiday period when children are on vacation and free; one during the Christmas holidays, the other second during the Easter holidays and when able, two editions are organised during the long holidays.

The detection and nurturing of young talents in Cameroon is beginning to pay off. Recently the Eloundou sisters, Linda and Manuela made Cameroon proud at the African junior tennis championship in Senegal.

In an all Cameroon encounter in the final in simple category, Manuela defeated her sister, Linda to grab gold while the unfortunate finalist won silver. They again won gold in the double series beating Aishata and Keita from Mali in three straight sets.

In the male category, Wamba Paul Brunei also won gold in the simple series and combined with Paul Vince from Benin to win silver in the double series in the U-12 category. Their overall performance earned Cameroon the second position on the general medal classification table.

At the end of the tournament in Senegal, the three Cameroonians; Eloundou Manuela, Eloundou Linda and Wamba Paul Brunei, were retained for a scholarship offered by the International Tennis Association to undergo training at the Africa Tennis Excellence Centre in Casablanca-Morocco. It is worthy to mention that the Eloundou sisters were already undergoing training at a sports and studies centre in Lome-Togo.

The only handicap is that youths from the three northern regions are unable to attend the events due to the enormous cost of travelling, lodging and feeding.

He decried the fact that they were receiving no assistance from government and have been able to function so far thanks to the support of the Presidential Guard who offers free accommodation to the youths. The competition ends on Saturday, august 2, 2014.