21st September, 2010
With just three months to the Amputee World Football Championship scheduled to hold in Argentina, the Nigerian team are yet to begin preparation.
Nigeria’s team are drawn in group B along with Uzbekistan, Brazil and Iran. There are clear indications that Nigeria may not take part in this year’s edition if the funds are not ready before the kick off date.
President of Amputee Football Association, Feyisetan Are, confirmed to P.M.Sports that the players are yet to be in camp due to lack of fund. He said the team cannot do well in Argentina if there are no preparations and urged the Sports ministry to come to their aid.
‘We are still in the dark over where to camp because the Sports Ministry is yet to release fund for us to start camping. Most of the countries that are coming to the World championship have started early preparation. The players and officials are not happy about the delay because we don’t want to miss the event after they failed to honour the last edition in Turkey,’ he said.
Meanwhile, this year’s World championship marks the 30th anniversary of the Amputee football, having started in 1980 by Don Bennett of Seattle.
Bennett is scheduled to attend this year’s World Cup in Crespo and will present ‘the Don Bennett Golden foot’ trophy to the player who scores the highest goals during the competition.
Group A consists of Argentina, Ukraine, France, Japan and Haiti, Group C comprises Turkey, El-Salvador, Ghana, Liberia and Algeria while those in group D are Russia, England, Angola and Sierra- Leone.
—Sunday Akintoye