As part efforts to ensure Nigerian players qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Nigeria Badminton Federation has sponsored four top players on a two-day training tour of Indonesia.
The four male players, who departed the country through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos at the weekend are Anuoluwapo Opeyori, Godwin Olufua, Daniel Philips and Daniel Christopher.
Team Nigeria two weeks ago in Algeria played in the finals of both the men and women team events at the Thomas and Uber Cup African qualifiers, as well as in three finals in the All Africa Senior Individual Championships also in Algeria. These feats fetched the team seven medals, made up of five silver and two bronze medals.
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To reward the payers, the federation in its last board meeting o decided to expose more players to international competitions, admitting that with constant exposure Nigeria will dominate the sport again in the continent.
President of Badminton Federation, Francis Orbih said the board would not achieve its desired result if it failed to develop men and women players, stressing that exposure of players was key to Nigeria’s dominance in Badminton.
He thanked Adhi Narto, who was supported by Cleanserve Integrated Energy Solutions Ltd and Alhaji Abdul Aliu for investing in Badminton.“A leader must be able to get the best from his people and the board of the Badminton Federation is willing to sacrifice everything to see the sport grow again, not just in Nigeria, but at least to dominate Africa for now and qualify for the Japan 2020 Olympics in Tokyo,’’ he said.
Orbih also disclosed that plans were on for other top players like Dorcas Adesokan to attend a two-month training camp in Europe in April and May, adding that top players like Clement Krobapor, Enejoh Abah, Habeeb Bello, Deborah Ukeh, Peace Orji and others would participate in international competitions like the West African circuit of Cote d’Ivoire, Benin Republic and Ghana later in the year.
Source: G Sport
