KAMPALA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Uganda' s professional player Edwin Ekiring will defend the Nigerian International Badminton Open title when the event takes place July 15-18 in Lagos.

Simon Mugabi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Badminton Association told Xinhua late on Thursday that Ekiring together with the country' s best female player Shamim Bridget Bangi have been registered for the event.

"We shall continue to expose our best players as much as we can so that they can qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil and also prepare well for the coming All Africa Games to take place in Congo Brazzaville," said Mugabi.

Last year Ekiring who plies his trade in the Netherlands stopped Genim Arnaud from France to win the Nigeria International Open title, while Bangi reached the semifinals, but paired with Egypt' s Hadia Hosny to win the women' s doubles.

Early this week Ekiring who maintains his top spot in the African rankings lost to Sri Lanka' s Niluka Karunaratne in the first round of the U.S. Open.