By Francis Ajuonuma
After watching Nigerian players put up encouraging performance at the 7th Lagos Int’l Badminton Classics which ended on Saturday, 31st of August at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Multipurpose Indoor Sports, Teslim Balogun Stadium, President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, is optimistic that the future of the game in Nigeria is very bright.
India dominated in almost all the categories, winning the women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed double while Vietnam won the men’s singles.
However, host Nigeria did not go empty-handed as they finished second in the mixed doubles, bronze in the women’s singles and joint bronze in the men’s doubles, performances which have boosted Orbih’s optimism on the progression of the sport in the country.
Speaking with the media at the end of the week long Classics which featured some of the world best badminton players from India, USA, Germany, Canada, UAE and others, the BFN boss said he was impressed with the high standard of the championships and performance put up by Nigerian players, noting that with the right support and continuous exposure Nigerian players can hold their own against the best in the world.
“I’ll say that the Classics lived up to its billing, it lived up to our expectations. We had a fantastic finals in all the events. It wouldn’t have been any better because every year we strive to improve on what we did the previous year and this year has not been any different. So, we’re very excited, as a federation, as a country to have been able to host this leg and this magnitude of international championships.
“Comparatively, we had a good outing, we had quite a few semifinals and also had a mixed doubles final. For the men’s singles our number one player and Africa’s best, Aanuoluwapo Opeyori got to the quarterfinals as he did last year. We had thought this year he could improve and possibly get to the final but that was not to be. So, we’re hoping and expecting that he would improve on this performance by the next edition,” he said.
“I feel Nigerian players need more support and more encouragement. A lot of them that played in this championships; only very few can travel out to play international which is one of the major reasons we continue to host this event because it gives a quite a number of them who don’t have the opportunity ordinarily to travel out to be able to play the game at this level.
“As a player, if you’re not exposed much there is a limit to what you can do when it comes to this stage. So, we’ve always challenged them, but to him that much is given, they say much is expected. So, is how much we’re able to give to them that will determine how much we’ll be expecting from them.
So, corporate Nigeria, we call on the private sector that government cannot fund sports alone. For any sport to grow very well, it needs a lot of support
Meanwhile, in the keenly contested men’s singles final, Vietnam’s Le Duc Phat had to dig deep to beat Samarveer of India 2-1 in the best of three – 21-10, 18-21, 22-20 to win the gold medal and trophy. The joint bronze went to India’s Gupta Aditya and Nguyen Hai Dang of Vietnam.
The women’s singles final was all India affair with Lele Shreya outplaying Selvam Kavipriya in two straight sets of 21-11, 21-16, to win the gold, while Adesokan Dorcas Ajoke wonbronze alongside Khan Mysha Omer of UAE.
In the mixed doubles final, Nigeria’s pair of Shehu Aliyu and Ukeh Uchechukwu lost to Kanapuram Sathwik Reddy and Khadkekar Vaishnavi of India in two straight sets of 12-21, 14- 21 to end up as runner’s and went home with medals. The joint bronze went to Nigera’s pair of Nusa Momoh and Yakubu Ramatu, and France pair of Maio Julien and Palermo Lea.
