The Badminton event of the ongoing 11th Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville ended on Wednesday with Nigeria winning a silver and five bronze medals.

The Congolese capital covering the Games, report that this was poor, compared to the three gold, a silver and two bronze medals the team won at the 10th edition of the Games in 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique.

Team Nigeria fielded four players at the semi-finals stages in the male and female doubles, the singles and the team events and placed a lowly fourth, after succumbing to the top teams from South Africa, Egypt and Mauritius when it mattered to settle for bronze in the events.

It was only Grace Gabriel that made it to the female singles finals, but lost to Seychelles to settle for the lone silver medal won by Nigeria at the Games.

One of the players said the team should be commended for the result “I think we have done well, based on the two months training we had prior to departure for the Games.

“The players gave their best but we also realised that we are still lagging behind in terms of the technicality of the game.

“We cannot be compared to the quality of play by the Congolese team, because we heard that the team was in China for about a year preparing for this event.”

“But there is no doubt that Nigeria is a force to reckon with in the game. What we just need is to have grassroots programmes, where new players will be discovered and nurtured to stardom,” it said.

According to the source, Nigerian coaches are not in tune with the modern technicalities of the game.

“Our coaches need to update their knowledge of the game. The Nigeria Badminton Federation also needs to get involved in the politics of the game in the continent.

“We have no international referees from Nigeria while no Nigerian is on the continental federation. All these are really affecting us,” it added.