Ex-Badminton Player Bemoans Dearth Of Competition

A former national badminton player, Tunde Agarawu, has urged the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) to organise more local competitions to help develop the game.

Agarawu, who made the call in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, said that the federation needed to organise more local championships to hunt for talents.

He said that the right peg should be put in the right hole, explaining that when the people who do not know about a sport are appointed into office, the sport would not develop.

“You need to have more tournaments in Nigeria to develop your players, get them exposed, bring them up and train them well than just going with four, five players abroad for one or two tournaments.

“The amount of money you spend on their ticket, amount of money you spend on accommodation and all that you will put that together and organise a tournament.

“You have more badminton players, you bring more players together from different states and you develop these players.

“ So look at it this way, have they had any tournament this year? No. Did they have any tournament last year? Maybe one or two.’’

He said that the dearth of local competitions could kill badminton and Nigeria might end up not being reckoned with in Africa where it currently was among the top five.