Nigerians get visas for All Africa Championships

Nigerian newspaper Punch reported yesterday that the Nigerian badminton team had received visas to enter Egypt on Tuesday, in time for the individual event of the All Africa Badminton Championships, after the team had been unable to compete in the team event, which finishes today.

Punch reported on Wednesday that the Nigerian badminton team had had to wait until Tuesday evening for visas to enter Egypt.  The individual event of the 2020 All Africa Badminton Championships kicks off on Friday in Cairo, but the visas came too late for the Nigerians to participate in the men’s and women’s team events, which began on Monday and will wrap up today.

According to a report on Tuesday in Nigeria’s Daily Trust, the Egyptian embassy’s position was that it had “received numerous visa applications late January for the championships” and that they had invited the Badminton Federation of Nigeria president to the embassy to verify those of real players, citing concerns about human trafficking.

The Punch report said that of the original 20 requested, 17 visas were granted and that one Federation official and two umpires invited by the Badminton Confederation of Africa were still not able to travel.

Nigeria won mixed team gold at both the All Africa Mixed Team Championships and the African Games last year but for African teams, winning the continental championship is the only means of qualifying for the Thomas or Uber Cup Finals in May and this chance has now passed them by.

Individual points are also on offer at the continental championships.  Defending women’s singles champion Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan (pictured) is still in a good position to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.  However, her compatriots Godwin Olofua and Anuoluwapo Juwon Opeyori, the top-ranked African men’s doubles pair, need every little nudge to stay in the top 50, where they need to be to capture the continental ranking spot for Tokyo.  Because of their points from the African Games team event, the Nigerians only stood to gain less than 400 points by playing the men’s team event in Cairo; however, a good result in the individual tournament this week could make a big difference for their Olympic campaign.  Africa was the only continent not represented by any doubles pairs in Rio back in 2016.

Photo: Badmintonphoto (archives)