As the 6th World Polio Day National Para-soccer Championship concludes its preliminary matches, Nasarawa State Para-soccer team has walloped their Gombe counterparts 7-2 on Monday to enter the quarter-finals.
The ongoing tournament at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park, Yaba (popularly called Rowe Park) is sponsored by Rotary International and organised by Nigeria Para-soccer Federation.
During the 60-minute match, Muhammad Useni opened scoring for Nasarawa in the 11th minute and later scored two goals in the 47th and 55th minutes of the game to make a hat-trick.
Subsequently, Samaila Abdullahi of Gombe, defefender, scored an own goal in the 13th minute, while Musa Ibrahim scored in the 26th minute and Saleh Ahmed another goal in the 30th minute.
The first half ended 4-0 in favour of Nasarawa, while Haladu Abdullahi scored an additional goal for Nasarawa in the 34th minute.
However, efforts by Gombe’s Haliru Lawal and Ali Hamisu yielded two goals in the 37th and 54th minutes but not enough to bridge the wide margin created by Nasarawa.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, Seidu Abdullahi, Secretary, Nasarawa Para-soccer team, attributed their victory to hard work.
Abdullahi said: “We thank God for being able to win our match against Gombe. We trained very hard and we are happy it is rewarding.
“We hope to win the competition and we shall continue to pursue it.”
Nasarawa will slug it out with their Kaduna counterparts later on Monday in a quarter-final match.
NAN reports that the tournament is one of the annual events to sustain the game originated in Nigeria for paraplegic persons in the country since 1988.
NAN also reports that the game had become one of the sports in National Sports Festival and PFN is committed to elevating it to continental and global competitions.
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