Nigeria and Africa’s top players – Dorcas Adesokan, Anuoluwapo Opeyori and Godwin Olofua – will begin their quest for Olympic qualification Thursday at the 2019 Egypt International tournament.
The tournament serves off today but the trio will join the action tomorrow in the main draw in the round of 32. The competition ends on Sunday, October 20.
Adesokan (Africa’s number one female player), Opeyori (Africa’s number one male players) and Nigeria’s second best men player, Olofua, will all play in the Singles event, while Opeyori and Olofua will also do battle in the Men’s Double.
After the Cairo tournament, the Nigerian stars will move to Algiers to take part in the 2019 Algeria International Championship holding from October 24 to 27 after which they will return home.
The quest continues with a tight and physically demanding schedule to the Cameroon International November 14 to 17), Scottish Open (November 20 to 24), Zambian International from November 28 to December 1) and a host of other meets in South Africa, Italy, Sweden among others.
According to the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), this drive is to ensure that the players garner as much ranking points as possible to stay in contention in the race for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The players, who have expressed preparedness for the rigorous and demanding tasks ahead, have assured the BFN of their determination to give their best at the tournaments.
Opeyori stated that they were ready for the task ahead while commending the BFN for believing in the players to deliver the goods. He said that playing and doing well in many tournaments would help them garner enough points to hopefully make it to Tokyo.
“I am hopeful that the three of us will make it to Tokyo. We are prepared for the task ahead and we have trained hard. All we need do is give our best at these tournaments,” Opeyori stated.
The BFN is leaving no stone unturned in the all-important mission of securing spots in the Tokyo Olympics.
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