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NIGERIA’S SPORTS MINISTER, SUNDAY DARE CONGRATULATES OBY SOLAJA ON AFRICAN WOMEN IN BADMINTON AWARD

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Nigeria’s Youth and Sports Development Minister Sunday Dare has heaped praises on Mrs. Obiageli  Solaja following the honour bestowed on her as the recipient of  the 2019   African Women in Badminton Award.

The Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA), bestowed the Award.

She becomes the second recipient of the award, following that of Gretha Prinsloo of South Africa who received the 2018 award last year during the BCA Annual General Meeting in Nanning China.

The honour will be bestowed at the BCA Annual General Meeting 2020 at a date to be fixed later due to the current COVID-19 global pandemic.

Dare remarked: “I wish to register my profound congratulations to one of Nigeria’s pioneer International Badminton players Mrs. Oby Solaja for her recognition as the winner of the prestigious BCA award.

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This honour is not only well deserved, but symbolic. Coming at a time when Nigeria has shown commitment to the development of Badminton makes it special.

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Oby Solaja’s shelf is already filled will trophies and medals

“This award is not just for you, but one that has made every Nigerian proud. This is reward of your commitment, hard work and dedication as a pioneer badminton player, coach and administrator.

“Indeed, it an honour well deserved. I urge you not to relent in using your pole position in the game to further develop the sport in our country.

“This is also a recognition of the sterling leadership of the President of the Badminton President Francis Orbih who has displayed astute leadership,” Dare remarked.

Oby Solaja, a seven-time African Women’s champion and 10-time Nigeria national champion in her playing days is one of the pioneers of badminton at the Olympics.

Last November, when the IOC president, Thomas Bach visited Nigeria and met with the country’s Olympians in Abuja, he took time to congratulate Solaja as one of the players when badminton first featured as a medal event at the Olympics in 1996.

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Atlanta ’96? Oh, you are one of the pioneers of badminton at the Olympics. Congrats, Thomas Bach, IOC president tells Oby Solaja.

According to the BCA in a letter dated 18th April 2020, conveying the award to Solaja, the award is meant “to celebrate outstanding women in Africa who have contributed to the development of badminton in Africa by demonstrating irreproachable attitude and dedication to the sport in their respective fields.”

Michel T. Bau, President of the BCA and Meneoang Leshota, Chairperson, Women in Badminton, jointly signed the letter.

“Her enormous contributions to the success of the 2019 All Africa Senior Championships in April, 2019 held in Port Harcourt, Nigeria” was given as one of the reasons for her choice as an awardee.

“This along with her commitment to her assigned tasks and dedication to the overall success of the tournament from the initial planning stages of the championship to its completion.

“Her choice was also based on her career long achievements as a female badminton player in Nigeria and Africa when, as nee Oby Edoga, she won three gold medals in the Africa Senior Championships in 1996; Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

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Her qualification for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, is a landmark. She became one of the first three female badminton players in Africa to participate in the badminton event at the Olympics.

The other two from Mauritius are Martine de Souza and Marie-Josephe Jean Pierre.

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Since her retirement as a player, Solaja has been developing herself in sports marketing and administration leading her to attend the 2006 Sportel in Monaco, France as a non-exhibitor as well as attending the FIFA/CIES Diploma course in Sports Management at Cairo University, Egypt in 2011/2012.

Her foray continued after retirement where she continued to support the development of badminton in Nigeria as a coach, and later as an administrator.

She is a member of the Board of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), where she is the zonal representative of the Southeast zone of the country. She is also the Chairperson of the Events Planning and Organizing Sub-committee of the BFN.

Reacting to the award, the President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, Francis Orbih, expressed joy at the wonderful news coming at this very difficult time.

He said he was not surprised at all by the development. ”Mrs. Obiageli Solaja, nee Edoga deserves and merits this great honour which is the first time ever that any such honour is bestowed on a Nigerian player/administrator.

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“It is a well deserved reward for hard work which will definitely spur her to put in more efforts towards the development of the game in Nigeria and Africa.

“This award will also inspire and motivate women in badminton to do more towards the development of the game knowing that their contribution will be recognised and rewarded in due course.” He said.

Orbih further stressed “The fact that her award is coming within the same month of the upgrade of Nigeria’s Naomi Oyinloye as a Certificated BCA Umpire means a lot to us.

“It epitomises progress and development, which is one of the major goals of this Board. “

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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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