President of the Nigeria Badminton Federation, Francis Orbih, says the country’s qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo suffered a major setback after players were unable to compete in several competitions. The country’s badminton stars were billed to participate in championships in Peru, Singapore, Portugal, India and Malaysia to help seal tickets for the Olympics, but have missed out on two of the championships, with another postponed. Speaking with The PUNCH Wednesday, Orbih lamented the setback, but added that Nigeria remained in a good position to qualify for the Olympics. “Peruvian visas can only be secured in Accra, Ghana and by the time we secured the visas, transit visas became a problem because there was no airline to take them to Peru without transit visas and there was no time to process that. There are still chances of qualifying for the Olympics, but what happened here was a major setback.”Copyright PUNCH.

Source: Punch April 21, 2021 23:14 UTC