It was medals galore for both male and female teams of Edo at the 2nd edition of the South-South U12 and veteran badminton tournament hosted by the Delta State Sports Commission in conjunction with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria held from August 11th to 13th, 2022.
Team Edo with some of the state’s best players stormed the NNPC Warri ground – the venue of the event, with confidence in representing the state and they never returned empty-handed, exhibiting the hard work of Coach Olalekan Fajimiyo.
In the boys U-12 single category, Ojo Olayemi of team Delta beat Ali Mustapha of team Edo by 2-0 to win the silver medal. Earlier, Ehbota Marvelous of Edo scooped the bronze medal after beating Okocha Triumphant of Delta State.
In the boys’ doubles, Ali Mustapha and Ehbota Marvelous of Edo beat the duo of Ojo Olayemi and Okocha Triumphant in the final to win gold leaving their opponents with silver and bronze as Olisa joined forces with Adudu to defeat Emmanuel and Mubarak of team Rivers.
Team Edo’s performance in the girls’ doubles wasn’t too fantastic as they could only manage to beat Taiye Ibrahim and Peace of team Rivers to win the bronze medal.
Coach of the side, Olalekan Fajimiyo registered his excitement over the performance of his players, though he felt they could have done better, he had enough positive picks from the event.
“I’m happy that we can rack up some medals and the players are exposed to things they had no access to before this tournament”.
“As you can see, they played so well, only that they are a bit lacking in experience. I’m happy for their performances, at least with this, they know what to do next when another competition presents itself.”
While appreciating the Edo State Sports Commission for creating an enabling environment for Badminton players in the state, Coach Olalekan called for more tune-up games and invitational tourneys in the state.
“I cannot do without thanking the Sports Commission as led by our Olympian, Yussuf Alli, for their support so far and programs lined up to better sports in the state, however, I will plead that they help to organize more tune-up games for our players so that we can be in top gears going into the forthcoming national sports festival and youth games.”
Coach Olalekan thanked the sponsors (veterans) – Magistrate Michael Odigie, Mr Stanley, Mr Phillip, Mrs Amaka Onwuka, Dr Joachim, Mr Joseph Azuka, Dr Sampson, Mr Abiola Omoregie, Mr Onyeka Ugbo, Dr Fred, Prophetess Jegede – who facilitated their trip who also participated in the veteran’s category of the 3-day event.