….Don’t Bid to host events if you are not ready to issue visas- orbih
…Set to take case to the World, African badminton bodies and the IOC
FOLUSHO ALADE, ABUJA
The President of the Nigerian Badminton Federation, BARRISTER FRANCIS ORBIH has expressed his displeasure with the attitude and antics displayed by the Egyptian Embassy in Abuja over the refusal to issue visas to Team Nigeria badminton players billed to participate at the recently concluded All Africa Senior Badminton Championship in Egypt.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with www.sportsgaloreng.com, ORBIH blamed the Egyptian Embassy for the failure of his Athletes to pick the automatic ticket for the Tokyo Olympics, maintaining that his players were traumatized because of what they went through in securing the visas to travel to Egypt and also arriving the country few hours to the commencement of their first game.
In his words “I am wondering why they accepted to host the event when they knew they would not be ready to issue visas to participating teams.
ORBIH stated that he is still waiting for the Egyptian Embassy to give them the reasons why they were refused visas.
“The most troubling aspect of the whole thing is that till this moment they have not come out to tell us why they didn’t give us visas. At least if you are refusing us visa, at least tell give us reason.
“They didn’t give us reason. Now you are hosting, they bided to host and it was granted, so government must be aware of it.
“Last year, our players were in Egypt for the International, it took us three days. We submitted out passports on the 28 of January, that is ten days or so before the date we were meant to depart they did not give us the visa until after that day.
“It was obvious that they did not want us to come. It is very obvious that it was deliberate, it was planned and we are calling out on the Egyptian Embassy, they should tell us and tell Nigerians why they refused to give us visas.
We are writing a protest to the World body and we will cope the African body and the IOC. Everybody says, oh it is the usual practice, the Arab countries, it is the North Africans, this is what they do. It is unacceptable and we cannot continue to encourage it. So, we are going to protest and protest very loud,” He said.
The badminton boss however believe the athletes would take advantage of other windows available in the Tokyo 2020 qualifying series to pick the desired tickets.
“Having missed the opportunity in Egypt, other windows they are exploring to ensure that the players secure the Olympics qualification, ORBIH explained.
“I will tell you something, the All Africa senior was the biggest qualifiers on the continent, so we were meant to go there and win our event, especially for our Athletes who were involved in the Road to Tokyo program.
“That we could not win, yes we got to the final, but like I said for Dorcas because the gap between her and the next person was so much and that she did not win had very little impact. So she is still comfortable, but for the other two it is very tight.
“So, because of that now we are in Uganda then Kenya and then when they come back we intend to go to Malaysia, Singapore and France.
Those are the three Super Series we want to go and if we are lucky, the points we gather from there will be enough for the men’s double to qualify for the Olympics,” He concluded.
Team Nigeria badminton team narrowly missed the chance to pick automatic Olympic tickets for the 2020 TOKYO OLYMPICS as they failed to upstage hosts Egypt at the just concluded All Africa Senior Badminton Championship held in Egypt.