Africa’s number three badminton player, Nigeria-born Ifraimu Jinkam and his compatriot Enejo Abah, have said that the dearth of competitions was stalling the growth of the sport in the country.

In separate interviews with newsmen  in Lagos, they said that players could hardly boast of a competition in the first quarter of this year.

They said on telephone that they reserved their fears that the sport might be extinct soon, if nothing was done to attract people to invest in its growth.

Jinkam, who is also Nigeria’s number one player, said the lack of competitions would not help the sport and upcoming players to develop as they hardly participated in national championships.

“Players improve when they train regularly and compete in tournaments to assess what they have learnt. It always put them in competition mood.

“Some of the players practise on their own, but when there is no competition, they get discouraged,’’ he said.

He also noted that multinational companies should come to the aid of badminton by sponsoring competitions where budding talents would be discovered.

“If we can rely a little on government’s allocation and look for alternatives by getting the help of corporate organisations, they will help to organise competitions, at least locally,’’ Jinkam said.

Nigeria’s number two player and Africa’s number six, EnejoAbah, said players would not improve till there were series of competitions to allow them show their skills.

“The dearth of local competitions is not good for the development of badminton. If we do not realise this, the sport might die a natural death if we cannot bring up new talents.

“A competition is an avenue where you improve because you will know where you are missing it and where you need to improve upon to develop yourself,’’ he said.

He also said credible people should be made to manage the sport to ensure its development.