Despite being in a strong position to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Anuoluwapo Juwon Opeyori is not taking anything for granted.

The Nigerian underlined his status as his continent’s best men’s singles player by defending his African title – his third in a row – in Cairo in February. He followed that up with a gold medal at the African Games in Accra, Ghana a few weeks later.

Currently, the 26-year-old is comfortably the highest-ranked African on the Race to Paris standings.

“The race is not over yet, but I’m in a strong position to qualify,” Opeyori told aclsports.com.

“Qualification ends next month, so I must keep playing more international tournaments until then. I don’t have pressure but I don’t want to relax until everything is over.”

Opeyori’s recent triumphs are timely.

“It’s very much welcome because it’s just when I needed the points the most for my qualification,” the four-time African champion told Sports 247. “I’m happy with my progress and hopefully I continue this streak.

“I’m looking forward to improving my game, my strokes, everything. Because I’ll be playing some higher-ranked players (at the Olympics) and they are really quick and have everything. I’m already looking forward to managing the situation, get over it and probably nick a win.”

Opeyori made his Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games but in the doubles discipline, with Godwin Olofua. They lost all their Group B matches to Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov.

If he is successful in securing his berth at Paris 2024, Opeyori will become the first Nigerian men’s singles player to do so since Kayode Akinsanya at Atlanta 1996.