Wheelchair tennis players from Nigeria at the on-going third New Era Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Lagos have appealed for the provision of modern facilities for the game.
The wheelchair tennis players said on Saturday in Lagos that Nigeria’s National Sports Commission (NSC) and other organizations should provide them with such facilities, as well as sponsor wheelchair tennis competitions to keep them busy.
The players said that the absence of modern equipment for the game had made some of their colleagues to opt out of the sport.
“If we have the opportunity of training and competing with modern wheelchairs, I believe we will be ranked number one in Africa.
“Most of the wheelchairs many of us have are not standard and are affecting our performance,’’ Saidi Adebayo said.
He lamented that the basic facilities that could encourage a player and bring out the best in him were in bad condition.
Adebayo said that some of his colleagues that had participated in international competitions performed poorly because they lacked modern wheelchairs for playing tennis.
“It is not surprising because they are not familiar with such wheelchairs,’’ he said.
Wasiu Yusuf, who participated in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics said : “I was really not familiar with the type of wheelchair that I used at the competition.
“It was God and experience that took me beyond the first round’’.
Frank Tarmela, national coach of the players said that their challenge was unavailability of modern wheelchairs and competitions to keep them off the streets.
“I urge the sports authorities to assist by addressing these problems because the players are determined to succeed in life,’’ Tarmela said.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
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