12th July, 2010
Nigeria’s deaf football national team may not have a good outing at the coming 1st West Africa Deaf Football Championship.
The tourney will be played from 1-9 August, 2010 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, Nigeria. The competition which is supported by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will see 12 countries in the sub-region fight for honour in the one-week competition.
P.M.Sports gathered that Nigerian team have not started preparation less than a month to the inaugural West Africa Deaf Football Championship. This situation has been a source of concern for the players and coaches. The players attributed the poor preparation to lack of funds from the Nigeria Deaf Sports Federation.
Chief coach of the Nigerian team, Kamilu Banjo, confirmed that the team are still waiting for the federation to give them the go ahead to begin preparations. Kamilu is worried that if the team do not prepare well, the hosts may have a disastrous outing at the tournament.
“With less than a month to the tourney we are yet to call the players to camp. We supposed to be in camp in Kaduna by now, but we have not got necessary support from the federation.
“The players are not happy about this situation and it will not be good if we host the tourney and crash out in the early stage. My belief is that other countries have been preparing for the competition for a long time,†he said
Kamilu said if his boys could get the necessary support as early as possible, he is optimistic that Nigeria can still go far in the tournament. He called on the federation to give the team the attention they deserve for the championship.
—Sunday Akintoye