The tides turned in Nigeria’s favour on Day 5 of the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris as Eniola Bolaji won a Bronze medal in the women’s Para Badminton Singles SL3 event by defeating Ukraine’s Oksana Kozyna in straight sets, 2-0 (21-9, 21-9).
This victory earned Nigeria its first Paralympic medal in Paris and Bolaji made history by becoming the first African player to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympics or Paralympics, the first African player to win a match at the Paralympics, and the first African player to reach the semifinals in Badminton at the Olympics or Paralympics. She also became the only player to ever win a medal for Nigeria in Badminton at either the Olympics or Paralympics.
Team Nigeria also took part in Para-Athletics and Para-Table Tennis events. Competing in the Women’s Shot Put F54 category, Rio 2016 GOLD medallist Flora Ugwunwa finished 7th with her best throw of 6.72m. She will return for her main event, the Javelin F54, where she aims to win her third consecutive GOLD medal.
Kayode Alabi advanced to the quarterfinals after a strong performance in the Round of 16 in Men’s Singles Para-Table Tennis Class 6. He defeated his Romanian opponent, Bobi Simion, 3-1 (16-18, 11-7, 5-11, 9-11) to secure his spot in the last 8.
Another Nigerian player, Isau Ogunkunle also won his Round of 16 match against Turkey’s Ozturk Abdullah. Although Abdullah won the first set 11-6, Ogunkunle found his rhythm and won the next three sets with scores of 6-11, 7-11, and 10-12, moving on to the next round.
In the Class 5 category, Bolawa Akingbemisilu came very close to reaching the quarterfinals but lost in a tight five-set match to Brazil’s Lucas Arabian. The final score was 3-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8). It was a close match.
