WTT Youth Contender: Mati, Okanlawon Claim Silver Medals

Nigeria’s Taiwo Mati and Usman Okanlawon made it to the podium at the WTT Youth Ligano in Italy after finishing as runner’s up in the boys’ U-17 and U-15 singles events.

Matti, who resides in Germany, had earlier lost in the U-19 quarterfinals but made up for his exit with a final spot in the boys U-17 but was unlucky to lose in the final against Australia’s Nicholas Lum.

The final proved a cagey affair with Mati pushing Lum hard in a five-game epic.

In a match of two halves, Mati led twice in the contest with solid outings in games one and three. However, Lum dug deep to recover a dramatic 3-2 victory (7-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6).

“The final was a very difficult match against a left-hander, and I felt a lot of pressure,” the Australian admitted .“I know Taiwo Mati, he is a very good player and it’s uncomfortable to play against him; I fought a lot and in the end, I managed to come back from 1-2 down to win. I am very satisfied with my game,” Lum added.

Meanwhile, Okanlawon surrendered to Singapore’s Izaac Quek Yong in the final of the boys’ U-15.

It was Okanlawon who inflicted Yong’s first game loss in the title decider, but the Asian star wouldn’t be stopped on this occasion as he defeated the Nigerian 3-1 (11-5, 13-15 11-3, 11-3) to claim the title.

“ I was ready to play many tough matches and, despite having good opponents, I won all of them 3-0 except the finals,” Yong said.“ In the first game, I had to change my racket, because of a bubble on the rubber.

“Then I had the same problem with the second racket, and I had to change it again. Luckily, I had a third racket in my bag, my opponent let me used it and the umpire also okayed it. I tried not to think about it, and I managed to win,” he added.