Ugochukwu Obieze, a defender in the National Amputee Football Team, on Wednesday lamented the country’s backwardness in World Amputee Football, saying the country was talented but lacked good coordination.
Obieze said in Lagos that the country was not rated among the top amputee football playing nations in the African continent.
According to him, Nigeria could have been the number one in Africa, but there has not been adequate support from relevant authorities.
“With adequate funding and support by relevant authorities, the country could have been among the top rated teams in the continent.
“Without help, we have been training all day to improve ourselves and expecting to participate in the forthcoming Africa Cup Nations (CANAF) later in the year in Angola. Many of my friends have naturalised in countries where they have been performing well while Nigeria is still undecided about embracing amputee football.
“I wonder why the authorities are denying us of opportunity of attending international competitions,’’ he said.
He said that even the Nigeria Amputee Football Federation (NAFF) has not been able to organise a single competition since the beginning of the year.
“Can you imagine that since 2013 that we returned from CANAF competition in Kenya, the federation has not hold any competition, seminar or even a course no matter how small,’’ Obieze lamented.
