Monday Emoghavwe, the President of Para-Swimming Federation of Nigeria (PSFN), has appealed to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to come to the aid of the federation by sponsoring its 2nd edition of National Championship.
Emoghavwe, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, identified lack of funding as the major problem confronting the federation.
“Since our participation in All Africa Games (AAG) in Maputo, in 2011, we have not got sufficient funds or any other opportunity to organise a national championship.
“We decided to organise the maiden edition on Dec.3 to mark the World Disability Day at the National Stadium, Abuja, in conjunction with Paralympic Committee of Nigeria.
“The second edition in 2017 will be in another state in the South East or in the South West, depending on where we are able to have good facilities and environment.
“We want to appealed to private organisations, philanthropists and lovers of swimming to give us support because this is the only way can raise funds and make the game popular,” he said.
Emoghavwe, however, said that Swimming and Para-Swimming games have a comparative advantage over other sports.
“Swimming remains the only game where an athlete can win more than six medals in a single competition.
“President Muhammadu Buhari had stressed the need for the development of swimming and para-swimming so that the Federation will bring more medals to the country in 2020 Paralympic Games.
“With this reason, we need to organise more competitions so that we will have a good number of athletes to represent the nation.
“We have some good places with good facilities to hold the next edition like in Bayelsa, Delta, Cross River, Ondo and Benin among others.
“We can organise up to three to four competitions in 2017, if we have the available funds and our sponsors will also determined the state they prefer the event to hold,’’ he said.
