Special sports athletes protest exclusion from sports festival
Special pports athletes, consisting of para-athelets and deaf-sports athletes, on Wednesday staged a protest in front of the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos.
They protested alleged exclusion from the 2022 National Sports Festival.
According to their spokesperson, Joseph Babalola, who is a wheelchair basketball athlete, the protest would have been averted if the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports intervened.
According to Babalola, the affected athletes had been training since January.
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“We have athletes in wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, deaf sports, and they can’t participate.
“Indeed, this is wrong, with nearly two weeks to the beginning of the festival,” Babalola said.
He said that the protest would continue until Friday except the athletes were given desired attention.
Another protester, who pleaded anonymity, said that it was wrong for the ministry to exclude the athletes when it was inviting athletes from Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa, Senegal and Togo to come and compete in the festival.
NAN reports that the protest caused gridlock on nearby roads.
The 2022 National Sports Festival is billed for Delta from Nov. 28 to Dec. 10 (NAN)
