- Author, Isaiah Akinremi
- Role, BBC Sport Africa
- Report from Hare
As African badminton champion Anuoluwapo Juwon Opeyori prepares to make Olympic history for the continent in Paris, the Nigerian can take heart from the knowledge that he has regularly defied the odds.
Because despite being born in an informal settlement in Nigeria’s largest city Lagos, the 27-year-old has risen to win four continental singles titles, more than any African before.
What makes the feat even more impressive is that he lives in a country without a designated badminton facility, but nevertheless now hopes to become the first African to progress to the Olympic men’s singles.
“My target is to reach the quarter-finals because once I manage to win a game, I think it will be a big upset for everyone and I should be able to achieve more than that,” Opeyori told BBC Sport Africa.
Not once since badminton became an Olympic sport in 1992 has an African reached the next round, even if South Africa’s Jacob Maliekal managed to win a match in the group stage of the 2016 Games when he beat a Ukrainian opponent and he did not make it. make the next phase.
Meanwhile, the continent’s record is marginally better in the women’s game where Egupt’s Hadia Hosny defeated a Mexican opponent in 2008 to actually reach the second round – the only time an African has achieved this in Olympic badminton history.
Despite the weight of history, Opeyori – who won the last three African singles titles as well as the African Games title earlier this year – approaches the 2024 Games with confidence.
“From a technical point of view, I’m not under pressure because I’m going to face very good people. So they should be the ones under pressure because I’m coming for them. So it’s a battle I’m giving them.”
“Breaking Africa”
Opeyori’s journey to the top of African badminton started in an unexpected way – as he was actually playing Nigeria’s favorite sport at the time.
“I was playing football with my friends when the coach saw us,” he explained as he walked to the Rowe Park Sports Complex, where his journey began, in Lagos.
“I think he had really good insight because we were just kids playing football. But he introduced us to the game and as soon as he gave me the racket, I was hooked.”
Despite having neither racket nor shoes, with Opeyori borrowing both, a love had been born, but hopes of rapid progress were further hampered by limited badminton facilities in Africa’s most populous nation.
“It will surprise you to know that in Nigeria, we don’t have a single badminton facility – not one,” Francis Orbich, president of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, told BBC Sport Africa.
“In most public spaces, what you have is a multi-purpose room – so it’s table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, boxing, basketball, handball, etc. in a single room. So when basketball has a two-week schedule, badminton can’t train and that’s a huge disadvantage.”
It was a trip to Asia in 2018 that changed Opeyori’s career, Orbih says.
A year after attending a two-month training camp in Indonesia, a country that boasts eight Olympic badminton golds (and 21 overall), Opeyori won the first of his record four African men’s singles titles.
Having won the last three on offer, the African champion is now expected to make his continent proud at the Olympics.
“If anyone is going to be able to break the fray, it’s him – he has the ability to do it,” Orbih says.
He’s disciplined, hardworking and passionate about the game and that’s what got him where he is and kept him there.”
“Family affair”
Before stepping onto the badminton court in a life-changing moment, Opeyori did menial jobs near his home in Lagos, such as bricklaying, just to make ends meet.
He was also supported by money raised from the sale of supplies by Funke’s mother, who was enthusiastic about his proposed career change.
“When he told me he wanted to play badminton, he didn’t know I played the sport,” Funke, a former amateur player, told BBC Sport Africa.
“Whenever he travels for matches, I am always happy and support him by fasting and praying because I am excited that my son is so lucky.”
“It means badminton runs in the blood,” Opeyori said.
In fact, his career has become a family affair since his elder brother Funsho put aside his own badminton skills nearly a decade ago to coach and sponsor his brother.
“I gave up my dream because I saw good potential in it,” Funsho said.
“I’m excited because he’s Africa’s number one and I’m very confident that he’s going to break the bank at the Olympics.”
Opeyori played at the last Olympics in doubles, exiting in the first round, and will be one of two African men in badminton singles, along with Georges Julien Paul of Mauritius.
Meanwhile, fellow Mauritian Kate Foo Kune, who has also previously won a return match at the Olympics but no more, will compete in the women’s singles as will South Africa’s Johanita Scholtz.
However, the sport’s traditional Asian dominance – combined with the challenges facing Africa’s best players – means that making clear in Paris will be a difficult task, something Opeyori relishes.
“I come in with a lot of confidence and my ambition is to make the nation proud – and the whole of Africa as well.”
Anuoluwapo Juwon Opeyori will begin his bid to make history at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Group N against Li Shi Feng (China) and Tobias Kunezi (Switzerland) in the group stage.