Badminton
Taraba Badminton holds grassroots training in Jalingo
Taraba Sports Council has held a three day badminton training for game masters, game mistresses, and secondary school students in Jalingo.
The event was held at the indoor sports hall of the Jolly Nyame Stadium.
The training event was geared towards providing secondary school teachers and students access to learn basic skills of the game of badminton, as part of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) goal of promoting grassroots development of badminton in Nigeria.
The training event was organized by Taraba Badminton and powered by CSED (Community Sport and Educational Development) Initiative, as part of their two years’ grassroots development partnership with the BFN.
The Taraba State Director of Sports Council, George Shitta who doubles as a board member of BFN, led six other badminton instructors that taught the students and teachers the theory and practical aspects of badminton.
The training event was attended by 80 students drawn from 18 secondary schools. Twenty-four game masters and game mistresses also attended the training event.
While speaking to sports journalists at the end of the training event, Shitta stated that an event of this nature is aimed at taking badminton to young secondary school students, encourage them to enjoy combining sports with their education, as well as supporting their development into future badminton players that will represent the state and Nigeria.
He gave as example, Jimkan Ephraim an indigene of Taraba State who used to be a former African badminton number 1 player.
Some of the students were happy to learn from the experience of Jimkan Ephraim, who also attended the training event.
Shitta commended the gesture of CSED Initiative for collaborating with Taraba Badminton and for their decision to select Taraba State as one of the states that will in future benefit from its “PROJECT 2027” programme, which is aimed at developing the game of grassroots netball in Nigeria.
Shitta further disclosed that CSED Initiative donated 60 badminton rackets, 18 tubes of shuttlecocks, and 17 nets which were later distributed to the schools that attended the training event.
He promised to complement the gesture of CSED Initiative by organizing an inter-school badminton tournament in future, between the schools that participated in the training event.
In an interview, the Director of Sports, Taraba state ministry for Basic and secondary education, Affos Musa Emmanuel promised to liaise with the Director of Taraba Sports Council, in order to get some coaches to go round the schools that participated in the training event with a view of these coaches providing additional onsite training that will support the teachers and students in the practicing of their new badminton knowledge.
Some of the pupils who participated in the training, Ruth Andoor (13 years old) from Government Technical Training School (GTTS) Jalingo, Emmanuel George Shitta (11 years old) from Destiny Success Academy, and Anna Sylvester Jabire (15 years old) from Raddar Metropolitan School Jalingo, stated that by attending the training, they have gained more knowledge of the game of badminton.
Also Victoria Edoche (13 years old) from Our Lady of Consolation, Telltuly Calib Jibril (13 years old), and Ayaungwa Wisdom (13 years old) from Heritage Academy described the training event as being impactful and they promised to be more committed during their future badminton training.
One of the instructors that trained the students and teachers, Emmanuel Sambo said the training will go a long way in encouraging the young talents to become badminton champions in future.
He urged the Taraba State government to pay attention to the sports sector in order to improve its internally generated revenue. The event ended with the presentation of rackets, tubes of shuttlecocks and nets to the representative of the participating schools.
Badminton
Badminton chieftain, Orbih dreams of ‘born-again’ Lagos International Badminton Classic
![](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/orbih.jpg)
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.
Badminton
It’s Indian delight at Lagos International Badminton Classic
![](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/WhatsApp-Image-2024-08-31-at-3.28.30-PM.jpeg)
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.
Badminton
India Stops Nigeria From Reaching Final of Women’s Doubles
![](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_1739.jpg)
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.
-
TRANSFER MARKET3 days ago
Points of Interest as Napoli’s coach apologises to Victor Osimhen
-
Badminton1 week ago
American beats Nigeria’s Segun Obasanjo
-
TRANSFER MARKET1 week ago
Transfer market still bubbling as Chelsea agents lands in Napoli for Osimhen
-
TRANSFER MARKET1 week ago
BREAKING! Osimhen is left stranded! Future remains uncertain
-
TRANSFER MARKET5 days ago
Lukaku pays respect to Osimhen
-
PARALYMPICS6 days ago
How Mikano powered Eniola to Nigeria’s first medal at Paris 2024
-
Nigerian Football1 week ago
As in 1974 , 1995 and 2005 another coach, Labbadia disappears from Nigeria’s national team job
-
AFCON1 week ago
Interim Commander, Eguavoen opens up on his plans for Super Eagles