By Victor Kanayo
A Nigerian Badminton player, Anuoluwa Opeyori, has again won continental title after he beat Mauritius Julien Paul 18-21, 21-13, 21-18 to win the gold medal of the Men’s singles of the just concluded All Africa Senior Championship.
Opeyori has now won his third African title in a space of five years to assert himself as Africa’s undisputable number one.
With his latest win, Opeyori has added to earlier titles won in Port Harcourt, Nigeria in 2019 and Kampala, Uganda in 2022.
He had also won the Men’s Singles title at the African Games in Morocco in 2019 to make it four titles in five years!
His spirit was initially dampened following the inability of four of his teammates to obtain entry visa into South Africa for the competition.
The affected players were Aliyu Alhaji Shehu, Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan, Sofiyat Arinola Obanishola and Ramatu Yakubu.
That reduced the Nigerian field and narrowed the possibility of the country making a good impact.
It is worthy of note that this is the second time in recent years that a Nigerian contingent to the All Africa Senior Championships will have serious and demoralising problems regarding their visas.
Reacting, the Badminton Federation of Nigeria President, Francis Orbih admitted that the sport in Nigeria suffered a setback following an initial internal wrangling that was only resolved last year.
