Team Nigeria bounced back from a disappointing outing in the women’s singles as four Nigerian pairs qualified for the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at the 9th Lagos International Badminton Classics.
The tournament, held at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Nigeria Institute of Sports, National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, began on Wednesday and is scheduled to end on Saturday (today).
Seven Nigerian players, including Nigeria’s number-one ranked player, Ruth Ebere, had earlier exited the women’s singles in the Round of 32, with Ebere losing to India’s Surya Tamiri. Tolulope Oluwadamilola, Kadijat Emiola, Ifeoluwa Ojo, Precious Oluwagbotemi, Peace Jonah and Naomi Tanko also lost their respective Round-of-32 encounters.
Nigeria, however, produced a much-improved performance in the mixed doubles, with four pairs advancing to the last eight. Victor Ikechukwu and Emiola defeated Uganda’s Ray Nsubuga and Tracy Naluwooza 21-18, 21-12, while Saidu Aliyu and Christiana Obasanmi advanced after receiving a walkover against India’s Sai Pratheek and Srinidi Narayan.
Kayode Abdulateef and Cynthia Feranmi overcame Ghana’s Ofori Acheampong and Racheal Quarcoo 21-15, 23-21 in a keenly contested encounter, while Usman Afolabi and Zainab Alabi fought back from a first-set loss to defeat the United Arab Emirates-Australia pairing of S. Munnangi and Stret Yellapragada 14-21, 21-13, 21-17.
Top seeds Dhruv Rawat and Mannesha K received a bye into the next round, while Uganda’s Muzafaru Lubega and Gladys Mabazi, Ghana’s Lesllie Addo and Jennifer Eduam, and India’s S. Kanapuram and Radhika Sharma also progressed after defeating their respective Nigerian opponents.
In the women’s singles quarter-final line-up, No. 2 seed Disha Gupta of the USA defeated Naomi Tanko 21-10, 21-10 in the Round of 32 and will face the UAE’s Myssha Khan for a place in the semi-finals.
No. 3 seed Petra Maixnerova of the Czech Republic will play Ania Setien, while No. 4 seed Prakriti Bharath of the UAE, who edged compatriot Sakshi Kurbkhelgi 21-14, 13-21, 21-10, will meet Prasha Bonam. No. 7 seed Agnes Korosi of Hungary will take on unseeded Tamiri, who caused the tournament’s biggest upset when she eliminated top seed Azzahra of Azerbaijan 21-13, 21-18.
Gupta said she remained focused on her own game rather than her opponents.
“I need to focus on my game, get enough rest and prepare myself mentally. Who I am facing now does not matter; good training and composure are more important,” she said.
