Wasiu Yusuf's first foray into Paralympic wheelchair tennis ended after less than an hour on Monday but, for his coach, simply having something to sit in on the Beijing court was an achievement for the Nigerian.

Various classes of disability make Paralympic competition a level playing field but equipment, ranging from specially designed wheelchairs to prosthetic limbs costing thousands of dollars, also make a difference to whether athletes can compete.

"Nigeria is a third world country," said Yusuf's coach Frank Tarmena. "Wheelchairs are very expensive in Africa. We can only get wheelchairs from Europe, from America and from Asia.

"So very few African countries play wheelchair tennis. If we have companies that produce wheelchairs ... it'll be very important for wheelchair tennis. The wheelchair is the biggest challenge."

The 19-year-old Yusuf, who lost 6-2 6-1 to Swede Stefan Olsson in the first round of the men's singles on the second day of competition at the Games, also faces other barriers his rivals in the developed world do not, Tarmena said.

"In Africa it's like a taboo when you are disabled. But in the Western world, it's different. That is why you don't find so many disabled doing sports in Africa, and you don't find so many disabled Africans travelling round the world doing sports."

Tarmena, the Nigerian national wheelchair tennis coach, has worked with the International Tennis Federation to try and help develop the game in different parts of Africa.

"I started wheelchair tennis ... because these guys are like us. There is nothing different. The only difference is the disability," he said.

"It feels good to be part of the Paralympics. This is a dream every athlete wants to achieve in their life. This will be an opportunity for more disabled people to go into wheelchair tennis back home."

OTHER END

Dutch player Esther Vergeer, at the other end of the scale from Yusuf both in terms of success and funding, was also in action at the Olympic tennis centre on Monday and neared her 350th successive victory by winning her first round encounter.

The 27-year-old is a full-time athlete who has been number one in the world for eight years and is a strong favourite to defend both the women's singles and doubles titles she won at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Paralympics.

"The Netherlands is not a big country and we have a lot of facilities for the disabled to train," said Vergeer, who lost the use of her legs following surgery at the age of eight, after beating Australia's Daniela Di Toro 6-2 6-0.

Di Toro, the last player to beat Vergeer in February 2003, was less than impressed with her latest attempt to dethrone the queen of women's wheelchair tennis.

"That was just devastatingly crap," said the 33-year-old paraplegic, who came out of retirement for Beijing.

"Today might not have looked like it, but I still think I have something to offer."