Over 70 players from 11 countries have begun hostilities in this year’s edition of the Lagos International Badminton Classics Championship at the Molade Okoya Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The tournament will feature players in the male and female categories from 11 countries.
These are Portugal, Togo, Ghana, Egypt, Srilanka, Jordan, India, Italy, Benin Republic, Uganda and host country, Nigeria.
They are to participate in five events of the Championship, which are Men’s singles, Women’s singles, Men’s doubles, Women’s doubles and Mixed doubles.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Sports/Chairman Lagos State Sports Commission, Deji Tinubu, has stated that the Badminton Classics is part of a series of International Sporting events geared towards attracting the best Continental and global Sports talents to the shores of Nigeria in pursuance of the Sports developmental agenda of the State Government.
Tinubu maintained that nothing will stop Team Nigeria from taking other competing teams apart despite participation from European counterparts, noting that the home support will be overwhelming for other Teams to behold.
Team Nigeria is parading the 25 players that represented the country in Ivory Coast and Benin Republic, with its best hands like Grace Gabriel, who is based in Holland as a professional Badminton player and a onetime African Champion in the male categories, and Dorcas Adesokan, who has bright chances of representing Nigeria in the next Olympic games considering her recent rating by The Badminton Confederation of Africa BCA after winning the women’s singles in Benin Republic.