Team Nigeria started their campaign on a fine note beating South Africa 5-0 in the Mixed Team Championship at the All Africa Senior Badminton Championships, which began in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Monday.
In the Mixed Doubles, Enejoh Abah and Peace Orji defeated Bongani von Badenstein and Michelle Butler-Emmet 21-15, 21-10. In the Men’s Singles, Anuoluwapo Opeyori beat Ruan Snyman 21-12, 21-14, while Dorcas Adesokan defeated Johanita Scholtz 21-13, 21-15 in the Women’s Singles.
In the Men’s Doubles, the duo Opeyori and Olofua dispatched Von Bodenstein and Jared Elliot 21-16, 21-17, while Deborah Ukeh and Adesokan scored a major victory – 21-19, 21-14 – over Elme De Villiers and Butler-Emmet to complete the 5-0 rout of the South Africans.
In some other games played, Algeria beat Togo 5-0, Ghana defeated Ivory Coast 5-0, Mauritius beat Benin 5-0 and Egypt beat DR Congo 5-0. The team event ends on Wednesday.
According to officials of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, 14 countries are already on ground, while others are expected to arrive in Nigeria on Wednesday to participate in the singles event, which begins on Thursday.
Team Nigeria’s assistant coach, George Shitta, commended the players for the victory, saying they would take the games as they come.
“The opening game against South Africa went fine and our strategy is to take each game as it comes. Our desire is to win the championships by picking all the gold medals at stake. We hope more fans will turn up tomorrow (today) to cheer the Nigerian team to victory.”
Shitta also said that sweeping the gold medals would help Nigerian players get the needed points that would help aid their participation at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
