By Adeyinka Adedipe
PRESIDENT of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) Frank Orbih has assured that his board will work with the Ministry to ensure his players attend tournaments that will guarantee them qualification for the Olympic Games as soon as the Coronavirus pandemic is exterminated.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the wake of the postponement of the Tokyo Games extended the period for qualifiers which will give athletes the opportunity to be part of the Olympics next year. In response to this, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development , Sunday Dare promised that the ministry would ensure athletes attend the remaining qualifying tournaments as a way of boosting Nigeria’s chances of winning medals in Tokyo.
While commending the minister for this move, Orbih said the BFN would work with the Ministry and ensure players attend as many qualifiers left as possible based on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) revised calendar.
“It is our desire to see our athletes compete at the Olympics but I cannot comment on their chances until BWF comes out with its own guidelines for badminton,” he said.
“We had a few qualifiers left which would have closed by end of this month. Like I said earlier, until BWF comes out with a definite guideline for the qualifiers as amended everything is still very fluid.”
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