Top seeds are not taking chances as the ongoing third Ikoyi Club Badminton Classics enters the quarter-final stage at the Badminton Section of Ikoyi Club 1938, Lagos.
Prominent among them is men’s singles top seed and Africa No.1 Anuoluwapo Opeyori (Lagos) and Ibrahim Udewu (Bauchi), who both qualified from Group A, while Victor Ikechukwu (Rivers) and Habeeb Bello emerged from Group B.
Also through to the quarter-finals are national No.2 seed, Shehu Aliyu (Niger) and Emmanuel Joseph (Rivers).
In the women’s category, Nigeria’s top seed and Mutual Benefits Assurance Badminton champion, Ruth Ebere (Edo), and Seed 2, Deborah Ukeh (Edo), are also through to the quarter-finals.
Other women quarter-finalists are Naomi Tanko (Lagos), Sofiat Obanisola (Rivers), Jumoke Obasanmi (Lagos), Dorcas Adesokan (Ogun), Damilola Oyedepo (Oyo) and Aminat Ilori from Ogun State.
Men’s singles top seed Opeyori expects the quarter-final games to be “tough and challenging” while Ruth Ebere insists “anything can happen as far as it is a competition”
Meanwhile, President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, Francis Orbih, commended the Ikoyi Club Badminton Section for staging the classics, which ends on Saturday.
He added that the Badminton Hall of Fame that would climax the event would be the first of its kind in Nigeria.
