Eniola Bolaji wins gold at 2025 para-badminton international championship

Eniola Bolaji has won gold medal in the women’s SL3 category of the Para-badminton International 2025.

The 19-year-old defeated Sweden’s Hillevi Salomonsson 2-0 in the event’s final on Sunday in Cairo,  Egypt.

Bolaji won both sets with ease in the one-sided final. She picked the first set with 21-2 win before cruising through the second with an even more remarkable 21-1 victory.

The victory was the teenager’s 58th in 64 matches. Over the past two years, Bolaji has participated in 10 international championships, winning all of them.

Speaking on her triumph, Bolaji, in a post on X, said she was inspired to victory by the “goal to bring honour to my country”. 

“It’s back-to-back celebration for my country and myself. Again, I was out with a goal to bring honour to my country and I am glad I recorded another milestones,” the post reads.

“I use this moment to encourage the youth of country to ‘Never Give Up’. Nigeria I hail thee!”

Bolaji was one of the para-athletes that redeemed Nigeria’s outing at the Tokyo Paralympics. She won the country’s first medal of the Games after clinching bronze women’s SL3 para-badminton.

In 2021, she became the first African athlete to win gold at the Spanish Para-badminton International Championship.

Bolaji was 16 when she defeated Oksana Kozyna of Ukraine 18-21, 21-14, 21-18 at the final in Cartagena.