Nigeria’s top badminton player, Anuoluwa Opeyori, has retained his African title by winning the gold medal of the men’s singles at the 2023 All Africa Senior Championships.
The 25-year-old continued to affirm his dominance as the continent’s undisputed champion, as his latest triumph in South Africa over the weekend was his third title in five years.
Opeyori beat Mauritius’ Julien Paul 18-21, 21-13, and 21-18 in the final to win Nigeria’s only medal at the John Barrable Hall in Benoni.
Although the Nigerian contingents to the tournament had travel difficulties due to non-issuance of visas to four of the 10-man team, Opeyori saw off South Africa’s Robert Summers 21-19, 21-17 in the semifinals.
He began the individual event with an easy win over Trinity Chimpumho of Zimbabwe 21-8, 21-9, before seeing off Ruan Snyman, who also fell in two straight sets of 21-11, 21-16 at the Round of 16.
Albeit losing the first set 21-19, the in-form Nigerian confidently completed a comeback victory 21-10, 21-19 to defeat Zambia’s Kalombo Mulenga in three sets of their quarterfinal duel to win the match.
Opeyori’s triumph in South Africa adds to earlier titles won in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 2019 and Kampala, Uganda, in 2022. He had also won the men’s singles title at the African Games in Morocco in 2019 to make it four titles in five years.
Aliyu Alhaji Shehu, Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan, Sofiyat Arinola Obanishola, and Ramatu Yakubu were not present at the event as they were unable to obtain entry visas into South Africa for the competition. It marked the second time in recent times that a Nigerian contingent to the All Africa Senior Championships would be refused visas. The first was when the team was traveling to Egypt for the All Africa Senior Championships in 2020.
