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2020 Olympic Ticket: Egyptian Embassy Denied Nigeria Visa To Have Edge- Orbih

Published

5 years ago

February 24, 2020

….As Federation Set to Petition, Egypt, BWF

Joel Ajayi

The President of Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) Mr. Francis Orbih, has revealed that the Egyptian embassy denied Nigeria’s Badminton players visa to participate at the just concluded All Africa Senior Championships in Cairo, Egypt was a calculated attempt for them
to have an edge for the 2020 Olympic ticket.

To this end, the federation will petition both the Egypt Olympic Committee (EOC) and the Badminton World Federation, (BWF) over the denial and late issuance of visa for Team Nigeria at the recently concluded All Africa Senior Championships in Cairo, Egypt.

BFN president on Thursday in a chat with newsmen in Abuja, that said there was a need to petition EOC over the late and denial of visa for Team Nigeria so as to stop future occurrence, adding that the incident as affected Nigeria’s chances of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020
Olympics in Japan.

According to him, it was a terrible experience for the federation team

and the entire Nigerian.

“Egyptian embassy purposely denied us visa because they don’t want us to play them, they know they can’t beat Nigeria, we went to morocco last year it took us two days to get our Visa, and they knew what they do.

“And we are not going to fold our hands, we will write a protest letter to petition the Badminton World Federation and we copy the IOC and the African body because the damage has been done already, but we don’t want it to be swept under the carpet, because some many people
have protested that the Arab countries always do that to other countries’’ he said.

“Already the NOC has written a protest letter to the EOC and copied the badminton world federation and badminton confederation of Africa.”

‘’For BCA in which am a member we are going to suggest on some certain conditions that a country must meet before they can host any international competitions which part of is to give visas to very participating teams’’.

“Two umpires who were given invitations for the games was refused visa until today the Egyptian embassy has not given us reason why they didn’t give us the visas on time after summiting all the requirement ten working days before the events which has fueled suspicion of
deliberate sabotage and foul play by the embassy. This negates all tenets of Fair Play and Sportsmanship’’.

It would be recalled that Team Nigeria played in 3 of the 5 finals at the African championships despite all challenges and frustrations which saw the team missing the Thomas and Uber cup qualifiers (Team event) of the championship.

‘’It was a psychological war fear because the Egyptians knew that Nigeria was a big threat to them that is why we encountered problems in securing visas, that resulted in the Nigerian team failing to qualify for the team event in Thomas & Uber Cups in France ’’ he
added.

Despite this performance, Dorcas Adesokan is still on course to qualify for the Olympics while Anu Opeyori and Godwin Olofua face a more difficult task of qualification.

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NSF: Oparaoji, Ekpeyong, Quadri Gear Up for Tough Quarterfinal Clashes in Abeokuta

Published

2 weeks ago

May 23, 2025

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The tennis courts at the ongoing National Sports Festival in Abeokuta are buzzing with intensity as the competition hits the quarterfinal stage in both the men’s and women’s singles events, following a gripping round of 16.

Men’s Singles Quarterfinals:

Abubakar Yusuf of FCT will square off against Rivers State’s Abua Canice. Yusuf booked his spot with a 4-0, 4-2 win over Ehigiamusoe Endurance of Edo, while Canice cruised past Azi David 4-1, 4-0.

Bayelsa’s Uche Oparaoji faces Adeleye Daniel of Ekiti in a clash of skill and strategy. Oparaoji outclassed Urenyang Nuhu of Taraba 4-1, 4-2, just as Adeleye powered past Kaduna’s Ibrahim Sulaiman with the same scoreline.

In one of the most anticipated ties, Danjuma Lucky (FCT) will lock horns with Bayelsa’s top seed David Ekpeyong. Danjuma came through a thrilling contest against Ekiti’s Abamu Matthew, rallying to win 1-4, 4-2, 10-5, while Ekpeyong dominated Taraba’s Rubi Toba 4-0, 4-2.

Home favourite Christopher Bulus of Ogun will battle Edo’s Michael Chima for a semifinal ticket. Bulus swept past Rivers’ Timibra Godsgift 4-1, 4-0, while Chima triumphed over Delta’s Iloputa Ikechukwu in a straight-set win.

Women’s Singles Quarterfinals:

Delta’s Barakat Quadri, fresh off a 4-1, 4-0 win over Rebecca Ekpeyong of Bayelsa, will face rising star Emmanuel Bright of the IJA (Invited Junior Athletes), who overcame Rivers’ Maxwell Timipre 4-2, 5-3.

Edo’s Omotayo Blessing will battle Akwa Ibom’s Udoffa Mary in what promises to be a fiery encounter. Omotayo brushed aside Ekiti’s Adeusi Jesutoyosi 4-0, 4-1, while Udoffa outplayed Moses Favour of Kaduna 5-3, 4-0.

Elsewhere, Ogunjobi Success of Ekiti will test her mettle against Aina Goodnews of IJA, and Akwa Ibom’s Etoro Bassey faces Ogun’s Yakubu Ohunene in a South-South vs South-West showdown.

With the quarterfinals locked in, tennis fans are in for a thrilling ride as the battle for medals intensifies under the Abeokuta sun.

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