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By: Johnny Edward
Nigeria’s reigning para badminton champion Bolaji Eniola won three gold medals at the just-concluded first Egypt TV Para Badminton International tournament in Cairo, The PUNCH reports.
The tournament, which ended on Sunday, preceded the main event in Pattaya, Thailand from February 20 to 25.
Eniola won the gold medals in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
She beat Adriane Spinetti Avila of Brazil 2-0 (21-5, 21-6) to emerge champion of the women’s singles, SL3, before she joined Chigozie Jeremiah to defeat Jagadesh Dilli (India) and Rosa Efomo De Marco (Italy) 2-0 (21-7, 21-10) in the mixed doubles SL3 event.
In the women’s doubles final SL3-SU5, Nigeria’s pair of Eniola and Chinyere Okoro won gold against Rosa Efomo De Marco (Italy) and Diana Lizeth Leon (Colombia) 21-19, 16-21, 21-13
In the other events, Nigeria’s gold medal men’s singles SL4 hopeful Chigozie Jeremiah lost narrowly to Marcel Adam (Germany) after a tough 21-19, 13-21, 21-15 defeat, as he settled for the silver medal.
In the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 semi-final, Eze Chukwuebuka Sunday and Chinyere Oko lost to Jagadesh Dilli (India)/Rosa Efomo De Marco (Italy) 7-21, 5-21 to settle for bronze.
In the men’s doubles SL3 & SL4, Nigerian pair Nnanna Chigozie Jeremiah/ Chukwuebuka Sunday lost to Jagadesh Dilli and Subhrajeet Maharana (India) 21-17, 16-21, 17-21 while in the women’s singles WH2, Nigeria’s Chukwuemeka Gift Ijeoma lost to Egyptian Shaimaa Samy Abdellatif (Egypt) 17- 21, 12-21 to also settle for bronze medals.
In all, Nigeria won three gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
Reacting to her triumph, Eniola said, “I’m happy to have done my country proud and I hope to do it again at the Olympics.”
Over 28 countries participated at the championship with six Nigerian athletes — three male and three female — led by the female national para badminton assistant coach, Ngozi Duru-Phillip.
Badminton Federation of Nigeria president Orbih, who was ecstatic, hailed the young athletes whose dedication, resilience and determination to succeed opened the doors to the feat.
The World Championships in Thailand will be the final chance for athletes to earn world ranking points, which count towards qualification for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Qualification ends on March 31 when 120 slots across 16 medal events will be finalised from the Badminton World Federation’s Race to Paris rankings.
