Nigeria shine at Badminton Championship in Cairo as Opeyori retains African title.
Nigeria’s badminton team has showcased an impressive performance at the recently concluded All Africa Senior Badminton Championship in Cairo 2024, securing a total of seven medals.
Anuoluwapo Opeyori, the country’s top badminton player, claimed his fifth African title during the championship. Opeyori’s remarkable achievements include victories in the All Africa Senior Championships Men’s singles in Port Harcourt (2019), All Africa Games MS title in Morocco (2019), All Africa Senior Championships MS title in Uganda (2022), All Africa Senior Championships in South Africa (2023), and now in Egypt (2024).
Nigeria’s male team in the team event narrowly lost to Algeria in the finals, thereby settling for Silver.
The Women’s team won a valuable bronze after losing the semifinals to the Ugandan Women’s team.
In the Individual event, Nigeria’s Opeyori stormed through to the finals by beating compatriot Victor Ikechukwu 21-13, 19-21, 21-9 to rekindle an old rivalry with Mauritian Georges Julien Paul where he again asserted his dominance by beating Paul 23-21, 11-21, 21-16 to take the coveted MS crown for the third time in a row and his fifth African title.
The relatively new pair of Yunusa Momoh Godwin Olofua did Nigeria proud by beating Mauritius players, Melvin Appiah and Tejraj Pultoo 21-17, 21-15 to reach the finals.
They were, however, unable to defeat the duo of Africa’s number one pair of Algeria’s Kociela Mammeri and Sabri Medel, thereby losing 12-21, 8-21 to clinch the Silver in the Men’s Doubles event.
In the Women’s Doubles, Nigeria’s Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan paired with a new partner, Sofiyat Obanishola to lose out narrowly to Ugandan’s Husina Kobugabe and Gladys Mbabazi 21-18, 19-21, 18-21 after fighting gallantly in the semifinals to get a spot on the podium for the bronze medal.
In the Mixed Doubles event, yet another fresh pair of Aliyu Alhaji Shehu and Deborah Ukeh-Divine lost the semifinal match to home team of Adham Hatem Gamel and Doha Hany of Egypt 9-21, 12-21 to take the bronze medal for their efforts.
In all, Nigeria was able to take home an impressive total of 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals for relatively new pairs in all the doubles categories.
Meanwhile, Francis Orbih, President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, expressed his gratitude for the performance of the Team Nigeria contingent and lamented the loss in the finals of the Men’s Team events.
“We were so close after getting the first two games in our favour, but we understand that in games as in life, anything can happen. We are grateful to and appreciative of our players and their performances,” Francis said.
Francis also thanked the Hon. Minister for Sport Development, John Enoh for the Ministry’s support for the team.
He promised that the board would continue to support players in all categories and at all levels.
Francis further stressed the plans of the badminton board to immediately resume preparations for the upcoming badminton event at All Africa Games holding in Ghana from the 3rd to 10th March 2024.
