President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) Francis Orbih has told www.aclsports.com that he is hoping for a “very successful” tournament when Nigeria host the 2019 African Senior Badminton Championships next month.
Orbih has stressed in different fora that his board is well prepared to stage a successful continental championships but we asked him what the definition of success would be for him in the upcoming event.
“As a Federation, I will say that the first thing we will be looking forward to is to have a very good championships in terms of incidence-free, safety! A championship where everybody will come and have fun and enjoy themselves,” began Orbih to www.aclsports.com
“So for us, (it is) to have a seamless championships where we will not have issues. Yes some hitches will come once in a while but as much as possible, we want to minimise this to the barest minimum.”
Eighteen countries have so far registered to take part in the “All Africa Senior Championships” which will see top Men and Women Badminton players in the continent compete for honours at the events which will also serve as the first leg of the Olympics qualifiers.
Aside hosting perfectly in terms of logistics and infrastructure, Orbih (pictured centre) hopes the country will also do well in the competitions.
“I’m sure you will agree with me that if we have a very good championships where everything is perfect and has worked out well and we don’t win, that success will not be complete.
“So, for us as a board, we want to host to win. After achieving that, we will be very happy and we will now term it very very successful if Nigeria is going to be able to retain the trophies here. That is for us, the definition of success in this context,” added Orbih.
Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Egypt as well as West African nations Ghana and Coted’voire have signified their intentions to participate. The remaining countries are Kenya, Mauritius, hosts Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The countdown for the events which will hold between April 22 and 28 at the Alfred Diette-Spiff Civic Centre in Port Harcourt will take another dimension with the unveiling of the competition’s mascot at the Rivers State capital on Saturday.
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