Sports
Special Athletes Appeal For Separate Sports Festival
Youngsters honing their skills in athletics in a grassroot competition
Achondroplasia athletes (a
form of short limbed dwarfism) yesterday appealed to the National Sports Commission (NSC) to hold a separate National Sports Festival (NSF) for special athletes.
Some of them told newsmen in Lagos in separate interviews that the inclusion of more events at the NSF would allow their other colleagues to be engaged.
A F40 Shot put athlete, Deborah Agege, said the idea for a separate NSF for the special athletes would offer opportunities for more athletes to showcase their talents.
“Sport is a very veritable tool that keeps most of us occupied, I actually like the idea of having a separate NSF, like the Paralympic.
“Olympics is different from Paralympic, it will be nice if Nigerian government can give us this opportunity. We are seriously pleading for a change of heart.
“From there, we will be able to pick who will represent the country at the world level,’’ she said.
Abigael Menu, also in F40 class, said that the NSF does not encompass athletes with disabilities, saying that organising a festival for special athletes would be appreciated.
“The government is trying its best to see that we take part in the NSF, because we have para-athletics, para-table tennis, para-powerlifting, deaf athletics and deaf table tennis.
“These events were featured at Eko 2012 but having our own version of Paralympic will not be a bad idea at all,” she said.
She also said that sports helped to make special athletes to be cherished more, noting that it gives them a sense of belonging.
“A lot of people still laugh at us because of our height, making us feel inferior. Sports bring special athletes together, it makes us have a sense of belonging,” she said.
Israel Akujor, a shot put thrower in F40 class, also said that adding more para-athletics events at the NSF would give her colleagues the feeling of competition.
“There are some of our colleagues that have never represented the country or competed nationally because their class is not always featured.
“The inclusion of new classes to the NSF would also help our colleagues whose classes are not featured to improve,” he said.
He urged the public to stop stigmatising special athletes, saying that it was the same God that created the able bodied and disabled.
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) Rivers State Chapter has set up five standing working committees on Tuesday, in its general congress.
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
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