Bolaji Wins Gold At Para Badminton Championship

Nigeria’s Queen of Para-badminton Eniola Bolaji produced a stunning performance in the Women’s Singles SL3 category at the 5th Abia National Open Para Badminton Championship, held at the International Conference Centre in Umuahia.

Bolaji won gold in the category, Oriemezie Joy secured silver, while Odilaka Uwalaka, and Anna Nyam both won bronze.

In the Women’s Doubles SL category, the team of Joy Ozioma (Rivers State) and Oriemezie Joy (Imo State) triumphed with gold.

Duru Goodness Chinasa and Ogechi Onyenso, both from Imo, bagged silver, while Amarachi Precious Eziuka and Blessing Iroanya from Abia earned bronze.

Over two days of intense round-robin action, Bolaji lived up to her billing as the undisputed queen of the SL3 class, winning all four of her matches without dropping a single game and conceding just 15 points across eight games—a near-perfect record that underscored her superiority.

She opened her campaign in ruthless fashion, whitewashing Oriemezie Joy of Imo State 21–0, 21–4. She followed up with an equally commanding 21–1, 21–2 victory over Anna Nyam of Plateau State.

Her dominance continued with a 21–2, 21–5 win over home favourite Odinaka Uwalaka of Abia State, before wrapping up her campaign by brushing aside Blessing Iroanya, also of Abia, 21–2, 21–1.

Despite her loss to Bolaji, Imo State’s Oriemezie Joy emerged as a standout performer in her own right, finishing second in the group.

Joy displayed grit and experience, posting three wins from four matches. She began with a confident 21–8, 21–1 win over Iroanya and followed up with a solid 21–11, 21–10 triumph over Anna Nyam.

In a tightly contested match against Uwalaka, Joy held her nerve to secure a 21–17, 21–14 victory that guaranteed her the runner-up spot.

Abia State’s Odinaka Uwalaka delivered a mixed bag of results. She opened with a narrow three-game loss to Joy (18–21, 21–15, 15–21) and was overwhelmed by Bolaji, but rebounded with convincing wins over Iroanya (21–6, 21–9) and Nyam (21–17, 21–14), finishing third overall.

Anna Nyam endured a difficult outing, managing just one win—a hard-fought contest against Iroanya—to finish fourth.

Meanwhile, Blessing Iroanya, despite her spirited efforts and crowd support, ended her campaign winless, but with valuable experience from each match.

The 5th edition of the Abia National Open Para Badminton Championship continues to highlight the growing depth and competitiveness in Nigeria’s para-badminton scene.

Bolaji Wins Gold At Para Badminton Championship is first published on The Whistler Newspaper