25th October, 2019
The Kano state para-soccer team have won the seventh edition of National Para-Soccer Championship after defeating their Katsina counterparts 2-1 in the final on Thurdsay in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Kano team have now won the championship five times, thereby extending their record of team with most wins.
The Kano team played a clever and controlled game in he final match at the Old Parade Ground and certainly looked quite impressive.
They gave their opponents all sorts of problems with their quick passing system, and Idris Mohammed duly opened scoring in the second minute of the game.
The Katsina team fought back but they could not utilise their scoring chance in the first half the game.
On resumption of the second half, Mohammed doubled the tally for Kano just after three minutes.
Anthony Tobias however scored for Katsina five minutes before the end of the game to make the final scores 2-1.
Ibrahim Musa, the coach of Kano, later said he was grateful to God for giving them the opportunity to win the national championship for the fifth time.
“I commend my players for the good work and for making the state proud.
“They tried their best in the game and I don’t think any team can beat Kano when it comes to the para-soccer game in Nigeria.
“We are the best in the country,” he said.
Kaduna state team defeated the Nassarawa team 3-2 to win the third-place match earlier in the day.
The Kano team received a cash prize of N200,000 for winning the championship, while Katsina received N100,000 for emerging second, and Kaduna N50,000 for finishing third.
Nine of the expected 10 teams took part in the championship, with Team Bauchi not showing up.
The teams which participated were: Kano; Kaduna; Zamfara; Gombe; Katsina; Borno; Nasarawa; Sokoto; and the FCT.
The championship had started on Saturday at the Old Parade Ground and ended on Thursday to mark the World Polio Day.