National para games end in Abuja

The maiden edition of the National Para Games – the equivalent of the National Sports Festival for the physically challenged – has ended in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

The six-day championship finished after a colourful closing ceremony at Moshood Abiola Stadium, Friday, with Team Bayelsa emerging champions with thirty-three gold, thirty silver and thirty-two bronze medals.

Team Akwa Ibom amassed a total of thirty-eight medals comprising ten gold, seventeen silver and eleven bronze medals to finish in eighth place out of the twenty-two states of the federation which registered for the competition.

Speaking in Uyo, Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Sir Monday Uko expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Akwa Ibom delegation to the Games and thanked Governor Udom Emmanuel for approving the participation of the team.

“Like you already know, we participated in nine sports and were able to win medals in all of them except para-soccer and also finished in eighth position above fourteen other states, so to me that is a good performance”, Mr. Uko said.

“I am grateful to His Excellency, the Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Mr. Udom Emmanuel for releasing funds for us to participate in the championship especially in light of the fact that about fourteen states withdrew from the competition due to the non-availabilty of funds mainly because the championship was not captured in the budget of states since it was not originally included in the country’s sports calendar for the year”, the youth and sports boss added.

The second edition of the National Para Games is expected to take place next year and thereafter, every two years. This became necessary in order to lessen the burden on states to fund their participation in both the National Sports Festival and National Para Games in the same year.