Nigeria police debuts in biennial World Police and Fire Games

The Nigeria Police Force will make its first appearance in the Biennial World Police and Fire Games in the 2013 edition of the Games, being hosted in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
A 34-man contingent of the Force, made up of 28 athletes and six officials, led by the Force Planning Committee Chairman, CP Abimbola Macaulay, departed the Murtala Mohammed International Air Port, Lagos on July 30 for Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Nigeria Police contingent is expected to arrive Belfast on Wednesday.
The game is scheduled to hold from August 1 to 10.
The biennial World Police and Fire Games is an athletic competition open to Police agencies throughout the world. Athletes from 70 countries are expected at the 2013 Belfast Games.
They will compete in 66 sporting events, including athletics, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis and marshall arts such as wrestling, judo and taekwondo.
The Nigeria Police contingent will feature in eight events.
These are athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, golf, judo, table-tennis and taekwondo.
In his goodwill message to the contingent, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, charged them to be good ambassadors of not just the Nigeria Police, but the entire nation.
Abubakar enjoined them to conduct themselves creditably throughout their stay in Belfast and further warned them to distance themselves from drugs, as any athlete cut doping will be dealt with accordingly.
The IGP, in his address, reminded the contingent that Nigeria Police athletes are not strangers to international sporting events, as some of them have represented Nigeria and made the country proud in similar games such as the Commonwealth Games, the All Africa Games and even the Olympics.
He challenged them to improve on the record of their predecessors by winning more laurels.
The IGP assured the athletes of a befitting welfare package during the games, adding that impressive rewards would await those who would win medals for the Force and the country.
The contingent is expected back in the country on August 14, 2013.