President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, Frank Orbih stated that there are more positives to take home from Nigeria’s participation at the Olympic Games, despite an early elimination for sole representative, Anuoluwapo Opeyori.

Orbih pointed out that it was Nigeria’s first time qualifying for the men’s singles at the Olympics and that Opeyori did well, especially considering he was knocked out by the world number six from China.

“So many things to pick out of this. One, this is the first time Nigeria ever has qualified for the men’s singles. And Anu was the person who carried the flag,” Orbih emphasized.

“And he’s the first Nigerian to go for two Olympics with badminton. And he’s done it back to back. So riding on that, he was put in that group with the world number six from China.”

“I mean, everybody felt, well, let him try and win the first match against a player from Switzerland. And maybe after that, we’ll now see what happens. But the game against the Switzerland player was very tricky.”

“He was leading the first game, 20-17. And he needed just one point to take that game. And the guy caught up with him and won.”

“So I guess that also psychologically affected him and he lost the second game. Really and truly gave the world number six the very best. In fact, he got a standing ovation when he left the court.”

“So we are really proud of him. It was a good outing. A lot of lessons to be learned.”

“One of the biggest ones is the fact that nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it and if giving the necessary support. If Anu had played more internationals in Asia and Europe, I’m sure he would have dragged it more with these people here. But he had very limited exposure.”

“And this is what we got. So if the exposure can be more, then we’ll get more.“