Nigeria badminton team have missed the doubles event at the ongoing 2020 ALL AFRICA SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS in Egypt.
Team Nigeria have automatically lost a chance of participating in the Team event for the Thomas and Uber Cups next May.
The team visa application was delayed by the Egyptian Embassy since submitting the Team’s application on the 28th of January 2020.
The captain of the Nigeria contingent, ENEOJO ABAH said that the team will channel the anger of missing out of the team event to the singles event.
ABAH said they have been able to overcome the sad feeling of missing the team events.
He said, “It is unfortunate and sad to miss the team events (men and women). We have been able to overcome the sad feeling and we are putting our minds on the individual events. We are going out there with the anger of missing the team events.
“Missing the team event will not affect our individual games but might naturally, mentally and psychologically tell on our games. But like I said earlier, we will forget about it and channel the anger towards the individual events and clear as much gold as possible”.
He further said, “Nigeria has missed out on some points and will be missing at the Thomas and Uber cup finals in Denmark. If we had won the team events, it would have given us a good boost to enter the individual events”.
He said the chance of Nigeria winning medals is bright.
ABAH said, “Surely, team Nigeria are going out to win both the men and women event; I had no doubts about that, so as the entire team.
The full team
ENEOJO JOSEPH ABAH (CAPTAIN), ANUOLUWAPO OPEYORI JUWON, GODWIN RICHARD OLOFUA , ALIYU ALHAJI SHEHU, ISAAC MURPHEE MINAPHEE , BABATUNDE BANKOLE TIMILEHIN , DORCAS AJOKE ADESOKAN (ASST.CAPTAIN), GRACE GABRIEL, DEBORAH UKEH-DIVINE, SOFIYAT ARINOLA OBANISHOLA, RAMATU YAKUBU AND RUTH CHINENYE IBERE.
The coaches are:- Senior Team Head Coach, BEN ORAKPO, Assistant Coaches GEORGE SHITTA and SUSAN IDEH-AGBOOLAH.
The delegation is led by the President which includes the Vice President, Chairman Technical committee, the team Manager, Technical Director, Secretary General and two umpires invited by the BCA.
Nigeria is currently ranked number one team on the continent while Egypt is its closest rival.
