Kwara State’s Ayomide Folorunsho and Alice Paul of Ondo State have emerged winners in the boys and girls singles event at the just concluded Rock Foundation U-16 National Open Tennis Championship in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

In the final of the boys singles event held at the centre Green Court of the Abeokuta Sports Club, Ayomide dominated Sodiq Kushimo of Ogun state in two straight sets of 6-0 6-1 to win his second major title in tennis.

In the girls category, Alice overwhelmed Favour Ijaola also of Ogun state in two straight sets 4-1 4-0 to win her first career title.

In the U-14 boys singles final, Sunkanmi Oduwaye defeated Waliu Hamzat 6-3 to win the title while Mariam Egbeyemi won the girls’ singles title.

The Ogun state Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Dr. Oludare Kehinde, applauded the organizers of the competition, assuring stakeholders of commitment of government to developmental programmes targeted at discovering more talented players

He expressed the readiness of the government in ensuring that the technical department in his ministry works closely with coaches at the state Sports Council to nurture talented players discovered at the tennis tournament.

On his part, the state Director of Sports, Mrs Iyabode Rotimi, hailed the commitment of the Rock Tennis Foundation initiated by former player, Akanji Sunday Enitan who is based in the United States.

Enitan with the support of other ex-players including Akinwunmi Banmeke are giving back to the society by organizing holiday coaching clinic and age grade competition to discover raw talents for the development of tennis in the state.