Badminton
BADMINTON COURTS AGOG AS 18 COUNTRIES ENTER FOR ALL AFRICA SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Nigeria will be the centre of attention in the African Badminton community, as Port-Harcourt, Rivers State is set to host the All Africa Senior Championships.
The Championships is made up of two separate tournaments: the Mixed Team Event holding from 22nd – 25th April and the Individual Championship to hold from the 26th – 28th April 2019 at the Alfred Diete Spiff Civic Centre, Port Harcourt.
Already, 18 countries have registered for the showpiece event, which will see the best men and ladies badminton players on the African continent compete for glory. These countries include; Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Congo, Congo DRC, Eritrea, Egypt Ghana and Ivory Coast. Other participating countries include; Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the host country, Nigeria.
The Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) has congratulated teams that have registered for their participation at the event and promises to stage the best All Africa Senior Championships the continent has ever seen.
“We are excited about the quality of teams that will be participating at the All Africa Senior Championships in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. These are teams with some of the most talented players on the continent. Africa’s number one male and female single players, Georges Paul and Kate Foo Kune, of Mauritius, will be participating at the Championship. Obviously the fans are in for perhaps the most competitive All Africa Senior Championships we have seen in a while,”Orbih stated.
On the country’s level of preparedness for the Championships, the BFN President promised that the country will be ready in time to host Africa. Orbih opines, “As part of the preparations for this competition, the BFN organized the 1st Rivers Governor’s National Badminton Championship in Port-Harcourt in December 2018.
“The National Championship provided us with an opportunity to test-run the facilities and infrastructure needed to host the All African Championship. We learnt a lot of lessons from the National Championship, which have proved very useful in our current preparations. The Rivers State Government has been very supportive in our preparations and with their continued support, we will be ready in time.”
Host countries typically have the difficult task of combining preparation for hosting events such as this and preparing their teams to successfully participate at the event. The BFN however does not envisage that challenge, noting that the Nigerian team is being prepared to successfully represent the country at the event.
“The National Camp is currently open and the players have been working hard to ensure they successfully represent Nigeria at the Championships. Over the last couple of years, Nigerian players have climbed their way to the top of the African rankings and are primed to be the team to beat at the Championships,” noted Orbih.
The Rivers State Government has also stated the readiness of the State to successfully host the tournament. The Commissioner for Sports,. Boma Iyaye noted that the expected level of participation shows that Rivers State is still one of the most important destinations for sports tourism in Nigeria.
“With the kind of infrastructure investments made by His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Barr. Nyesom Ezenwo Wike CON, we are not surprised to see the quality of countries interested in coming to the state to take part in the Championships. Rivers State is ready and we are sure this will be the best All Africa Senior Badminton Championships ever. This is the promise of the Rivers State Government to Africa and we are committed to keeping this promise.”
As part of the preparation for the publicity for the All Africa Senior Badminton Championships, a championship Mascot, which was designed by a resident of Port Harcourt, will be unveiled in Port Harcourt. The Mascot will be the fulcrum of all publicity activities in the run-up to the Championships.
BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
The Lagos International Badminton Classics may from the next edition step up to the next level with a reinvigorated government-private partnership initiative.
President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) Francis Orbih believes that the governments at all levels cannot fund sports alone and if sports need to develop the private sector also has a role to play in its development in the country.
Orbih made the call on Saturday while addressing newsmen during the closing ceremony of the 7th edition of the Lagos Badminton Classics which took place at the Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall inside the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
“Nigeria players need more encouragement and support because you know it will be difficult for most of these players to travel out for this kind of championships.
“And that is why we try to make this event an annual event so that they can have that opportunity to play the game at this level” Orbih hinted.
“They need the exposure because without it, there is a limit to what you can do so we have to challenge them, and to whom much is given, much is expected, and it is the much we can give to them that determines the much we expect from them”.
“In giving this much, we need the private sector for sports to grow and develop because the government cannot do it alone” Orbih emphasized.
On the just concluded 7th edition of the tournament Orbih noted that the championship has lived up to his expectations even though the Federation can do better, and one practice which they have adopted is to surpass the performance of the previous edition while hosting a current edition.
He further added that Nigeria had a good outing as we reached some semifinals in some categories while the mixed doubles reached the finals.
“For the men’s singles, our number one player was edged out in the quarterfinal, and it was at this same level in last year’s edition that he was edged out”. “We thought he would have improved this year and reach the final but that was not possible but I am expecting that we will improve on his performance in the next edition” an optimistic Orbih added
Orbih did not fail to remind all that Opeyori’s rise to stardom in Nigeria and Africa as whole was a journey that started so many years ago and so much need to be done if the younger ones have to rise to his level in the future.
“A lot of people who see Opeyori today think he just got to this level over night”. “They do not know what he has gone through to become Africa’s number one. We as a federation need to go back to the age-grade tournament at the U12, U15 and U17 level so we can start preparing them with lots of exposure to attain his level”. “There is no magic and there is no short cut and if we need to get more players like Opeyori, we need to invest more at the age-grade level and that is it”.
He also did not fail to state that Opeyori started the Lagos Badminton Classics from its first edition in 2014 and it was his exposure over the years through the event and other championships that gave him the experience needed which made him qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
On India’s domination of the Lagos Badminton Classics, Orbih noted that India is a powerhouse as far as badminton is concerned and it is because this tournament has a lot of world ranking players that makes it good for Nigerian players to take part in it so that they can also acquire exposure too.
BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
The Indians are having a swell time at the Lagos International Badminton Classic.
Not only did an Indian player, Samarveer responsible for Nigeria’s Anuoluwapo Opeyori’s ouster at the quarter-finals, the Indians have won the mixed doubles beating a Nigerian pair.
They were delighted at the relative ease of their accomplishment.
The duo of Kanapuram Sathwik Reddy and Khadkekarr Vaishnavi expressed their shock on how easy it was for them to beat Nigeria’s duo of Shehu, Alhaji Aliyu and Ukeh, Uchechukwu Deborah in the finals of the mixed doubles on home ground.
The game which was played on court two of the Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall on Saturday, saw the Indians record two straight wins against Nigeria to win 2-0 (21-12,21-14).
Speaking after the win, both players who were overjoyed about their wins expressed themselves.
“It’s my first time of playing in Nigeria” Reddy started “And am glad this game ended very well, we are happy to win and we never expected it would come this easy”
“When we reached the final and were going to play Nigeria we thought it was going to be very tough because of the home crowd, but it was not” he said.
Adding her voice a delighted Vaishnavi also appreciated the warm reception given by the host country in organizing the tournament.
“I am happy with the environment and reception here, the atmosphere is peaceful and the people are very nice, we feel very happy winning” she concluded.
The Indians who have dominated the finals of the doubles in previous editions edged Nigeria’s side to win the mixed doubles.
It will also be recalled that Nigeria’s duo of Shehu Alhaji Aliyu and Ukeh, Uchechukwu Deborah reached the finals of this edition without lifting their racket, as they walked over their French opponents who were ruled out due to arm injury.
BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
Nigeria’s duo of Dorcas Ajoke and Ilori Aminat on Friday failed to reach the final of the women’s doubles of the Lagos Badminton Classic at the Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
The duo suffered two straight defeats at the hands of India’s Singhi Simran and Selvan Kavipriya who defied the slim efforts made by the home fans to cheer the Nigerian sides to victory.
The game which was played on court 2 was however slightly disrupted by power supply barely five minutes of play but that did not stop the Asian side from getting the job done when power was restored.
In a later development, Nigeria’s duo of Shehu Alhaji Aliyu and Ukeh Uchechukwu Deborah also reached the final of the mixed doubles without lifting their rackets.
The duo benefited from a walk over which took them to the final after their French opponents of Maio Julien and Palermo Lea were ruled out due to arm injury.
The championship comes to a close this Saturday.
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