Lagos (Nigeria), Jan 11 (IANS): The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) has said players from eight African countries will participate in the qualifiers for the Africa Junior Tennis Championship (AJTC) billed for March in Nairobi.

Aminu Kurfi, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the qualifiers, told a news conference in Abuja that Nigeria was hosting the game as a platform to showcase the country's tourism potentials and cultural heritage, reports Xinhua.

The qualifiers, which is the third edition of the West and Central AJTC qualifiers, is scheduled for Jan 12 to Jan 20.

Kurfi listed the participating countries as Togo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Gambia, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Niger.

The qualifiers will feature competitions in three categories of Under-12, Under-14 and Under-16 in both male and female events.

Kurfi said the winners of the U-14 and U-16 categories would represent their countries at the main continental championship in Kenya in March.