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ANU OPEYORI REMAINS NIGERIA’S BADMINTON NUMERO UNO

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The climax of the third Golden Star Katsina National Championship was as explosive as it was exciting.

The final matches heralded some predictable and some brand new champions. The Men’s Singles event produced Anuoluwapo Opeyori (LA/FRSC), winner of the last edition and still very much Nigeria Number One.

His teammate, friend and fiercest rival, Godwin Olofua (LA) could not play the scheduled final owing to ill health.

The excitement that greeted the end of the match that produced the comeback queen, the gorgeous Grace Gabriel (PL) as the winner will keep resounding for a long time to come.

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She beat home girl, GSK’s Ruth C. Ibere 2-1 to clinch the coveted trophy and cash prize. Assisted from the sidelines by the former Nigerian International, Victor Makanju, she was absolutely astounding and very much the old former African Number One Women’s Singles player.

Earlier, the same Grace Gabriel had teamed up with the same Ruth C.

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Ibere of GSK in the Women’s Doubles category to defeat the pair of Peace Orji-Abah and Juliet Jacob (OY/TR) to win the category’s gold.

The Men’s Doubles event was won by former African Number One, Jinkam I.Bulus (TR) who paired with young Daniel Phillip (AD) to produce a great blend of experience and youthful strength to defeat Eneojo Abah and Isaac Minaphee (DT) and send a clear challenge to the teeming young players around.

The Mixed Doubles event saw the consolidation of the dominance that the pair of Eneojo Abah (DT) and his beautiful wife Peace Orji-Abah has enjoyed in recent years. Ranked Number 1 in Nigeria and Number 2 on the continent, this pair ensured that the pair of Aliyu Alhaji Shehu and Maryam Umar (NG) could only take the silver back home.

The standard of the game was quite impressively high and the camaraderie and sportsmanship exhibited during the course of the championship made all the efforts pumped into the preparations and actual execution of the tournament worthwhile.

The closing ceremony was graced by an impressive number of dignitaries among which was the representative of the Emir of Katsina, the Yandakan Katsina and District Head of Dutsinma, Alhaji Sada Mohammed Sada and a host of other dignitaries.

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Delivering his speech before the presentation if prizes to the winners, the President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, Francis Orbih, expressed his board’s appreciation to the management of the Golden Star Katsina Badminton Club and paid glowing tribute to it’s able founder, Grand Patron and Financier, Alhaji Malik Anas for his enormous and unquantifiable contribution’s to the growth and development of the game in the country. 

  Presentations were made of medals, trophies and prize monies to the winners and two Special Awards were handed out by the Badminton Federation of Nigeria to Alhaji Malik Anas and the Golden Star Badminton Club.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Badminton chieftain, Orbih dreams of ‘born-again’ Lagos International Badminton Classic

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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.

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“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.

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“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.

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It’s Indian delight at Lagos International Badminton Classic

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The duo of Kanapuram Sathwik Reddy and Khadkekarr Vaishnavi

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.

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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.

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“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.

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India Stops Nigeria From Reaching Final of Women’s Doubles

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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.

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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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