The National Coach, Ni
geria Amputee Football Federation (NAFF), Victor Nwenwe, has expressed confidence that the team would participate at the forthcoming Cup of Nations for Amputee Football (CANAF) in Nairobi, Kenya.
The competition would hold from November 22 to 30.
Nwenwe told newsmen in Lagos that the team had commenced preparation for the biennial tournament.
“We are looking forward to feature in the competition. The training is in progress because we don’t want to be taken unawares whenever we are invited to the national camp,” he said.
Nwenwe said that the team had yet to get approval for its participation for the continental tournament from NAFF, noting that: “the competition is next month and we are yet to hear anything from the federation.”
The coach, however, applauded the commitment of the players, in spite of a poor response from the general public.
“The boys, even in their physically-challenged state, have always turned out for training as scheduled, even when it was not convenient for them, which is highly commendable,” Nwenwe said.
Newsmen who were at the training session observed that ten footballers and two coaches were training at the open field behind the National Stadium Hotel, Surulere.
Nwenwe said that the field was allocated to the team temporarily for their training by the community, on humanitarian grounds.
He said that the team trains thrice weekly and appealed to the management of the National Stadium to allow it access to the main bowl, to enable them train daily.
“The competition is drawing near and we need all the support we can to fortify our training programme and the National Stadium is a central place accessible to the players,’’ he added.