Sports Festival: Lagos Para T/Tennis Player Complains Of Neglect

One of the athletes of Lagos State in the para-table tennis event for the National Sports Festival taking place in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, is not happy with way he and other athletes are being treated at the the Indoor Sports Hall camp at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

The player, who prefers anonymity, said he and other colleagues have been abandoned and not provided with the basic equipment needed to train at the open camp in preparation for the festival.

P.M.Sports gathered that the athlete, who hails from Kogi State, started a career in special sports in 1996, has represented Lagos State in athletics at three different national sports festivals in Bauchi, Edo and Abuja 2004 and is expected to compete in para-table tennis for the state at the forthcoming festival in Port Harcourt.

The athlete further revealed that what they were promised by the officials was yet to be paid to him and his colleagues.

“It seems we have been neglected by the officials because those things promised us before we began the open camping have not been given to us. Our allowances are not paid and we are not provided with basic training kits like bats, balls and vests,” he complained with bitterness, adding, “Lagos is being used as budding ground by other states as athletes from the state are defecting to other states for juicy packages. The reason is that they are always neglected after each major tournament, while other states provide employment for their successful athletes.”

He, however, stated that the disabled table tennis athletes are still ready to put in their best for the state at the forthcoming sports fiesta.

—Bamidele Olowosagba