Nigeria Ranks 320 In Badminton Globally

Nigeria’s number one badminton player, Jinkan Ifraimu, has been rated 320 with 3,370 points in the world by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in its latest rankings released recently.

Ifraimu, who ranked fourth in Africa has not been able to compete with his Ugandan counterpart, Edwin Ekiring, ranked 117 with 1, 3545 points in the world.

Ekiring is currently Africa’s number one player with 1, 4325 points, while Ifraimu ranked fourth with 4,290 points.

Other Nigerian players next to Ifraimu in the rankings are Eneojo Abah, ranked 356 in the world with 2,805 points and Victor Makanju, rated 539 with 1,392 points.

Reacting to the rankings, Abah said the number of international competitions attended determined players’ rankings and that Nigeria did not participate in enough international championships in 2012.

For the men singles, Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia is number one in the world with 9, 2848 points.

China’s Chen Long is two with 8, 2200 points and also his compatriot D.U. Pengyu is third with 6, 3416 points.

For the women’s singles, Nigeria’s Grace Gabriel is ranked 146 with 9, 642 points in the world, while Fatima Azeez, ranked 284 with 3, 428 points and Susan Ideh ranked 334 with 2,648 points.

Gabriel is ranked number one in Africa.

For the women’s singles, Li Xuerui of China is number one female player with 9, 4626 points while Saina Nehwal of India is number two with 8, 0461 points.

In the third place is China’s Wang Yihan with 7, 6852 points.