The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has approved the request of Russia-born Melissa Ifidzhen to represent Nigeria at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The 17-year-old took to twitter on Friday to announce the development.
Ifidzhen, who won the Russian U-12 Tennis Championship in 2010, is excited to represent her fatherland ahead of the Eurasia nation.
I have good news!! It has been officially approved by the International Tennis Federation that I represent Nigeria.???? pic.twitter.com/Io1L5lJejk
— Melissa Ifidzhen (@Melizhen) May 6, 2016
She played her debut match for Nigeria in April, 2015, pairing Elizabeth Garos-Pam to beat Algerian duo of Saadia Belhadj and Sihem Sahli in the girls doubles of the 38th ITF/CAT African Closed Junior Championship holding in Cairo, Egypt.
Nigeria wrote to the ITF last year to effect a change of representation for Melissa as she was then playing with her Russian identity.
President of Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Sani Ndanusa, stated that “Melissa is still being referred to as a Russian player but we have written to the ITF through her father to effect the change which should be done soon.
“We experienced the same problem when Garos-Pam started playing for us as she is seen as a British player but it was rectified later.”
