Anuoluwapo Opeyori is one of the 173 badminton players who have qualified for a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and makes history as the first Nigerian player to qualify for two Olympic Games.
He featured at the delayed Tokyo 2020 and will thus make a back-to-back appearance.
The list of qualifiers has been released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). This includes 166 regular quota places (83 men and 83 women), three universality places from the IOC Tripartite Commission (two men and one woman), plus an additional place for IOC Refugee Olympic Team athlete Dorsa Yavarivata, whose participation was confirmed earlier this month in a special announcement by the IOC.
Opeyori dominated Africa in the men’s singles from 2019 till date winning four African Championship titles and two African Games titles.
An elated Francis Orbih, President of Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) remarked at the weekend that Opeyori has broken the jinx in Nigeria badminton by making it to the Olympic Games in Paris.
Orbih said Opeyori’s qualification shows that the current leadership of BFN’s target of producing world class players is beginning to manifest.
