Nigeria’s Number 1 badminton player, Anuoluwa Opeyori has won his third African title in a space of five years to assert himself as Africa’s undisputable champion.
His latest victory came in South Africa at the weekend as he beat Mauritius Julien Paul 18-21, 21-13, 21-18 to win the gold medal of the men’s singles of the All Africa Senior Championships.
It was not an easy feat as the Nigerian delegation was psychologically drained even before the championship owing to non-issuance of travel visa to four of the ten-man team.
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 include: Aliyu Alhaji Shehu, Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan, Sofiyat Arinola Obanishola and Ramatu Yakubu.
That reduced the Nigeria’s field and narrowed the possibility of the country making a good impact.
It is also 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. The first was when the Team was traveling to Egypt for the All Africa Senior championships in 2020.
Anuoluwapo Opeyori in the 2022 edition arrived Uganda as the sole participant from Nigeria and went all the way up to clinch the men’s singles gold medal, thereby becoming King of African badminton for the second time after his feat in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
