The National Stadium, Lagos, comes alive Sept. 14 as Paralympics Committee of Nigeria (PCN) begins camping for its table tennis team heading to Egypt for Paralympic Games qualifiers
The PCN, in a statement released in Lagos on Thursday, also said it was seeking more tickets to Paris 2024 Paralympics tournament.
Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Lesotho and five others are expected to converge on Cairo, Egypt, from Sept. 20 to 23 for the 2023 African Para Table Tennis Championship.
Commonwealth medallists, Isau Ogunkunle, Faith Obazuaye and Ifechukwude Ikpeoyi top the list of Nigerian contingent to the tournament.
The players have already arrived in Lagos for the final preparation for the qualifiers as Ogunkunle and Obazuaye target their second appearance at the Paralympic Games, while, Ikpeoyi will be aiming for her first outing at the games.
The president of PCN, Sunday Odebode, noted that Nigeria would be aiming for more slots at the Paralympic Games and the federation would ensure that the team would slug it out with Egypt, the leading country in Africa in para table tennis.
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The president said efforts were on to ensure that Nigeria would present a large contingent for Paris 2024.
“We are working hard to ensure we have more athletes in Paris. We just returned from the para championship in Ghana.
“We want to ensure we expose our athletes to top class tournaments in readiness for their qualifiers and the games in France next year,” Odebode said.
Being the final preparation before their departure next week for Egypt, Obazuaye, a two-time Commonwealth Games medallist, said she would aim for a medal in Paris after narrowly missing out from the podium at Tokyo 2020.
“I think I am ripe for a medal at the paralympic games as I was unlucky to have missed out from the podium in Tokyo, being my first appearance.
“I am now experienced enough to know what I need to do to ensure I pick a medal in Paris,” the Edo State-born national champion said.