Bauchi State on Wednesday won the badminton male singles and doubles events at the ongoing National Youth Games (NYG) in Abuja.
Mustapha Umar won the singles with a 2-0 defeat of Yunusa Momoh from the FCT.
In the doubles, the pair of Umar and Abdulhamid Musa also beat their counterparts from Ogun, Olawale Odunayo and Simeon Akinsola, 2-0.
Umar, who is an SSS I student, later told newsmen he was hoping to become Nigeria’s number player.
His coach, Abdul Ibrahim, expressed happiness with the idea of the NYG initiated by the National Sports Commission (NSC) to discover talents.
He said it would help to build a reservoir of players.
Ibrahim who is Umar’s uncle however lamented the inability to get financial support for the player, and appealed for sponsors for him.
“Umar is a good player. He is my son and he started playing at home. But the problem we have been having is getting a sponsor for him and his school’s team.
“Their current sponsor is a traditional ruler in Bauchi who has provided them with good jerseys, better than what they used to wear before.
“However, he and his mates lack national support. But we are glad now that the NSC has intervened by helping to groom this kind of young talents,’’ said Ibrahim.
