State championships to provide players for badminton national team – BFN president

The Katsina Golden Star Badminton National Championship and the Lagos Badminton Championship will be used to select players for the national team, Francis Orbih, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) President, says.

Orbih told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the two events presents the opportunity of a unique way to take off for the federation’s new board.

He said the Katsina Golden Star National Badminton Championship would begin on Wednesday in Katsina and end on Saturday.

“The train will move to Lagos four days later where the first Mutual Benefit Assurance National Badminton Championship will hold from Nov. 15 to Nov. 18,’’ Orbih said.

The BFN president said he was thrilled that this was the first national competition of the federation in four years and the first of the new board.

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“For us it is a very unique event for us in the new board. It is going to be used for national ranking, both the Katsina and Lagos Championships.

“Right now we don’t have a current ranking of our players, but by the time we conclude both championships, we will be able to have an idea of who our national players are,’’ he said.

Orbih said that for the first time, players’ entry into the tournament was done online, and that the federation recorded about 95 per cent compliance.

He expressed the hope that the federation would achieve 100 per cent compliance rate in future tournaments.

“What the online registration has done for us is that it will help us to plan for the next tournament.

“We have opened a registration portal on the net for all players,’’ the BFN president said.

Orbih said more than 150 badminton players would feature in each of the championships.

He said a cash prize of N2.67 million was at stake in each of the tournaments and cash prizes available for the singles winners in the men and women categories.

The prize covers the first to 16th position, while the doubles and mixed doubles events have prizes for winners in the top eight positions.