Ability In Disability

•Players in action during last year’s Easter Parasoccer Tournament at the National Stadium Lagos. Photo… Emmanuel Osodi

•Players in action during last year’s Easter Parasoccer Tournament at the National Stadium Lagos. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi

Despite the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, the Sports Centre of the University of Lagos, Unilag will come alive as the 2013 Lagos Super4Clash Parasoccer Championship holds this Saturday.

The one-day tournament is expected to be keenly contested by teams from Nigeria and Ghana who will fight for the winner takes all N100,000 prize money for each player in a 10-man squad taking part in the competition. Each team consist of seven players, three reserves and three coaches.

The tourney, which will be organised by Total Consult with facilitating sponsorship funds from Promasidor, is conceived to celebrate the unquenchable and indefatigable African spirit which is able to defy and stand tall in the face of disabilities or impediments.

P.M.NEWS Sports gathered that the clash shall feature four teams, three of which shall be from Nigeria and the fourth from Ghana. All members of the teams are drawn from different club sides to form Team Awo, Team Nkrumah, Team Sardauna and Team Zik.

•Players in action during last year’s Easter Parasoccer Tournament at the National Stadium Lagos. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi
•Players in action during last year’s Easter Parasoccer Tournament at the National Stadium Lagos. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi

In the fixtures released by the organisers, matches will commence as early as 10a.m. with each match lasting 25 minutes in each half. There will be 30 minutes interlude before matches to spice up the atmosphere with some fun prepared by both the sponsor and the orgainsers for the fans.

Team Zik will play the first match of the day against Team Awo, while Team Nkrumah and Team Sardauna play the second game. Winners of these matches will go on to lock horns in the final. The third place match will be played by the losers in these matches.

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Theo Lawson, Managing Director of Total Consult noted that the Super4Clash is a one-off event, organised with a view to showcasing the sport to prospective team adopters in anticipation of the commencement of the league, hopefully next year and not the same as the annual Easter Para-soccer Tournament.

“Super4Clash is being organised to put the best parasoccer forward to compete together and I want to say that this is the first edition and 2014 event will be well packaged,” he said.

Already Team Nkrumah from Ghana have arrived Lagos early in the week to acclimatise before Saturday’s event with the players and their coaches boasting that they are in Nigeria to shock the hosts and collect the prize money. They are lodged at a hostel complex of the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

“The love and passion to see the physically challenged people in the Nigerian society feeling a sense of belonging motivated us to identify with the parasoccer tournament over the year,” said Mr. Anders Einarsson, Director of Strategy, Promasidor, adding “the international flavour of the competition this is year is also seen as a way of popularising the game outside Nigeria.” he, however, looks forward to seeing a Nigerian team winning the championship on Saturday.

Project Manager, Promasidor, Mr. Segun Koleoso said that the passion to let the physically challenged see themselves as celebrities and the need to add value to the life of these players are one of the reason the maker of Cowbell Milk sponsored the tournament.

Chief Coach of Parasoccer Federation of Nigeria, Femi Afolayan was so glad that a tournament that will involve a team outside the shores of Nigeria is taking place in Lagos.

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