Ghana's Yakubu Lea makes history at Shawnee State University
Ghanaian tennis player Abubakar Yakubu Lea has cemented his place in Shawnee State University’s sporting history by becoming the institution’s first-ever tennis player to be ranked nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association-National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (ITA-NAIA).
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Yakubu Lea currently sits at an impressive 68th position in the national rankings, edging out Spaniard Gonzaga Lafarga (69th) but falling just short of fellow Spaniard Borja Delgado (67th), according to the latest ITA rankings released on May 2, 2024.
With his current national ranking inside the ITA-NAIA realm, Yakubu Lea is the first-ever tennis player, either on the men's side or the women's, to be nationally ranked.
During his fantastic 2024 season, Yakubu Lea went 11-6 in official matches this season with an additional victory in exhibition play.
He earned River States Conference Newcomer of the Year honors and defeated Jose Andres Perez Perez, the River States Conference's Player of the Year and number 36 overall player in the national rankings, during the year.
The freshman also bested NCAA Division I singles talent Carlos Rodriguez Gonzalez, who was Lindenwood's number one singles player and a talent that nabbed three victories of his own over Saint Louis University as well as an additional win over the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Yakubu Lea, who won two River States Conference Player of the Week honors over the course of the spring season, holds a 17.9 International Tennis Federation World Tennis Number.
He also went 7-7 in doubles competition and figures to play a much larger factor on that end of the spectrum next season, as well.
Yakubu Lea's six losses were all against top-notch competition, as five of the losses came against nationally ranked singles players -- three of whom are in the national top-25 in their respective associations.
He fell by scant margins to the No. 4 ITA-NAIA singles talent (Vaclav Schneider, William Woods), number 24 ITA-NAIA singles player (Timur Chsherbakov, Pikeville), number 38 ITA-NAIA individual (Max Barriere, Georgetown) and the number 44 ITA-NAIA-ranked hand (Issac Steiner, Indiana Wesleyan) as well as the number 9-ranked NCAA Division III player in the country, Denison's Kael Shalin Shah.