Team Nigeria Set For Special Olympics

Nigeria have named a 51-member contingent for this year’s Special Olympics from 25 June to 4 July in Greece. The team, made up of 43 athletes, officials and 16 coaches.

The contingent includes the athletes selected from the Nigerian edition of the Special Games held last September at the University of Lagos.

There will be about 7,000 athletes from 180 countries to compete in 22 Olympic-type sports in Athens, the birth place of the modern Olympic Games.

The Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports organisation for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions for more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries.

Team Nigeria will compete in aquatics, athletics, badminton, basketball, table tennis and football. It was gathered that the players were selected through a random draw during the national Games at the University of Lagos last September.

Chairman of the board of Directors of Special Olympics Nigeria, Victor Gbolade Osibodu is optimistic that the athletes will put up a good performance at the Games.

He disclosed that of the N35million budget the country needed to feature at the Games, N28million has so far been realeased.

He commended the board and management of companies like GTB, Coca-Cola, Union Bank, MTN Nigeria, Total Upstream, Vigeo Holdings, Leadway Assurance, Phillips Outsourcing Ltd, Channels TV and members of the board of the Special Olympics Nigeria.