World Cup: Amputee federation proposes national camp in July

Ahead of the upcoming 2018 Amputee Football World Cup, the Nigeria Amputee Football Federation, says that 28 players identified at its just-concluded national championship would resume camping later in July.
NAFF’s President, Isah Suleiman, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday that the national championship which held from June 26 to June 28 in Abuja enabled the officials to select athletes for the national camp.
NAN reports that the maiden edition of the championship organised by NAFF, took place in Park B of the National Stadium, Abuja and featured four teams.
Suleiman said: “We are actually preparing for the amputee World Cup and the board deemed it necessary to hold this championship to fulfill part of our promises and to assess the footballers’ form.
“It was a successful event, the players are obviously happy that the sport is being revived and we have selected competent footballers that will be invited to camp this month.”
Sulaiman told NAN that 15 of the 28 selected players from the national championship would make the national team and represent the country in the World Cup.
He added that the early preparations became necessary as the World Amputee Football Federation organised fiesta would hold in Mexico from Oct. 24 to November 5.
He said: “We need to build a formidable national team that will perform credibly and we want to make the best use of these few months to put everything in order.”
Meanwhile, Ugochukwu Obieze, NAFF athletes Representatives, told NAN that he was impressed with the steps taken by the Sulaiman-led board to reposition the sport at the national and international level.
Obieze said the recent championships had restored the lost passion of amputee footballers across the country which was due to dearth of activities and neglect of the sport.
He said: “We are happy that amputee football is back to life and the evidence is the recent championship that brought us together after a very long period of neglect and frustration.”
He described the nation’s invitation to the 2018 World Cup as an evidence of commitment and drive by Sulaiman board to take NAFF to its place of glory.
According to him, it is through the effort of the present board that the sanction placed on Nigeria for failure to pay WAFF affiliation fee was lifted after it offset the debt.
He said: “That we are going to participate in this year’s World Cup is because we now have administrators that have our interest and that of the nation at heart.
“The first significant achievement is paying off all the affiliation fees owed the world body, and our membership was restored which is the reason we got invited to the World Cup.”
NAN reports that no fewer than 24 countries, including Nigeria, will compete alongside the host, Mexico, for the 2018 WAFF trophy, won by Russia at the last edition in 2014.