Nigeria’s number 1 badminton player, Anuoluwa Opeyori has won his third African title in a space of five years to assert himself as Africa’s undisputable champion.
His latest victory came in South Africa at the weekend as he beat Mauritius Julien Paul 18-21, 21-13, 21-18 to win the gold medal of the Men’s singles of the All Africa Senior Championships.
With his latest win, Opeyori has added to earlier titles won in Port Harcourt, Nigeria in 2019 and Kampala, Uganda in 2022.
He had also won the Men’s Singles title at the African Games in Morocco in 2019 to make it four titles in five years.
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Opeyori easily defeated Zimbabwean’s Trinity Chimpumho in the opening round of the individual competition, 21-8, 21-9. Next to succumb to his firepower was Ruan Snyman, who was defeated in the Round of 16 in two straight sets of 21-11 and 21-16.
Only Kalombo Mulenga of Zambia showed any opposition and had just barely won the first set, 19-21, when Opeyori completely destroyed him.
Opeyori defeated the Zambian 21-10 in the second set and 21-19 in the third set to win the match.
With the games getting tougher as the championship tie beckoned, Opeyori won the semi-finals against another homeboy, Robert Summers, 21-19 and 21-15 before his title match with the Mauritian.