It is Nigeria's first major win since the crisis in the
administration of badminton ensued late last year.
Opeyori was Nigeria's sole entry as his doubles' partner;
Godwin Olofua failed to show up having travelled unexpectedly to Qatar.
Due to lack of funding, Nigeria was to present the three-man
team that went for the Olympics comprising of Opeyori and Godwin Olofua in both
the singles and doubles men's event while Dorcas Adesokan had to be excused on
account of preparation for her wedding.
That left only Opeyori as the sole competitor and was at the
brink of not attending owing to the funding challenge.
There is no executive board of the Badminton federation in
the country at the moment and the leadership of a caretaker committee had to get
Opeyori a flight ticket to attend the championship.
Not featuring in competitions had already taken its toll on
the ranking of Nigerian players. Opeyori had to attend alone without any coach
or support staff.
It was a gamble that paid off. He avenged his loss in the
2020 final with a thrilling 21-14, 23-21 win over Brian Kasirye of Uganda.
It his second individual gold medal at the event after
taking the 2019 title following a win against countryman Godwin Olofua in that
final.
Opeyori had beaten 2017 champion Adel Hamek of Algeria in
convincing fashion with a 21-18, 21-18 semi-final triumph in the men's singles.
On his path to the semi-final, he beat home boy, Israel
Wanagalya of Uganda 18-21, 21-10 and 21-11 to get a 2-1 win having come back
from a set down.