25th May, 2014
United States, France and 13 others have confirmed their participation in the Lagos International Badminton Classics scheduled to hold from 4 to 7 June at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park, Yaba.
The tournament, which has also been sanctioned and listed by the world badminton ruling body – Badminton World Federation (BWF) has an International Challenge with prize money of $15,000.
As the highest category of championship ever hosted by any African country, the Confederation of Africa Badminton has also backed the tournament, as its attendance is also the highest for any badminton international championship in Africa.
Among the 15 nations already confirmed for the competition are five African countries which includes Botswana, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana and host Nigeria.
France will lead the teams from Europe, while others are Austria, Italy, Israel, Slovakia, and Czech Republic. The remaining countries are Canada, United States, India and New Zealand.
Four events – men’s single, women’s single, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles will be competed for at the championship.
The participants are expected to arrive Nigeria on 3 June.
Chairman of the Main Organising Committee (MOC), Lagos Sports Classics, Wahid Oshodi, said that the staging of the tournament has continued to attract top players to Lagos and Nigeria and this has confirmed the potentials that are abound in sports in Nigeria.
“Again, the badminton classics has brought international attention to Nigeria especially with the quality of teams that had already confirmed their participation. We hope to raise the standard and ensure that our visitors enjoy the warm and hospitality of the Centre of Excellence. We have raised the standard and we hope to continue to improve on our organisation as we welcome some of the world’s best to Lagos next month,” he said.
For the Chairman, Lagos State Badminton Association, Francis Orbih, the championship would afford Nigerian players to test might with some of these top players.
“We are happy with this development and we hope that this will surely help our players to improve themselves. There is no doubt that this competition will increase awareness for badminton in the country,” Orbih said.