Amputee Football Nations Cup: Nigeria to face Egypt, Ghana amid lack of funds for flight bookings

 

The Nigeria National Amputee Football team have been drawn alongside Egypt and Ghana in the group D of the upcoming Cup of African Nations for Amputee Football (CANAF) in Tanzania 

The draws for the CANAF 2021 which took place on Thursday was anchored by the president of the Federation of African Amputee Football (FAAF), Rev. Amartey Richard.

15 teams will be taking part in the 6th edition, making it the most featuring showpiece in the  competition's history

Nigeria settled for Silver at the 2019 Cup of African Nations for Amputee Football (CANAF) after a 2-0 loss to host and world champions Angola in the final.

In group A is the host country, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Morroco while group B had the current champion; Angola,Rwañda, Kenya and Zanzibar.

Group C has Liberia, Cameroon, Gambia and Ethiopia in the card with just three teams making up  group D aforementioned.

Recall that the travails of the Nigeria team which also referred to as  'Special Eagles' was earlier reported with the team Captain, Sarafadeen Olalekan lamenting a poor preparation ahead of the tournament.

The Skipper of the team had noted the fact that the team is yet to open camp ahead of the showpiece with lack of funds to prosecute some of their basic needs among which is facilities, flight tickets, kits and food.

The aforementioned challenges are not new to the Nigeria 'crutches team' as they also had to suffer untold hardship during their last outing.

Even with the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare promising them a better welfare after their exploits in the last edition, the para- footballer have neither taste any compensation nor recognition from the government.

CANAF 2021, which will hold from 28th of November to December 5th is a biennial tournament organised by the (FAAF) to determine Africa’s best team and also serves as part of qualifiers for the Amputee World Cup usually organised by World Amputee Football Federation (WAFF) .

Liberia have won three editions of the tournament while Ghana won the inaugural edition hosted in 2007 in Sierra Leone .

'Special Eagles' seek' help ahead of Nations Cup in Tanzania

Less than a month to the Amputee Nations Cup in Tanzania, the Nigeria Amputee National Team also known as 'Special Eagles' has appealed to the Government and all well meaning Nigerians to support the team ahead of the continental showpiece.

Speaking during an interview with Silverbird TV on Thursday, and monitored by our correspondent, the Captain of the team, Sarafadeen Olalekan says the team is yet to open camp and have a definite preparation ahead of the competition billed to for November 26th to December 5th in Tanzania.

Olalekan who led the team to their hisoric silver medal win in 2018 Angola Nations Cup thanked Nigerians for their support for the team, while urging them to rally round the team in yet another trying times.

"Presently at the National team , things are not going the way it supposed to be as our preparation towards the next Nations Cup has not been encouraging. Up till this moment, we have not opened the camp and also all the logistics have not been put in place"

Stressing how difficult it is to play Amputee football, he noted that the team couldn't also invite some of its foreign based players.  

He emphasized the importance of going to Tanzania and getting a podium finish which will enable the team feature in the next year Amputee world cup coming up in Turkey- a novel approach different from the last appearance which was based on invitation.

"There's no funding. Even now, we have not gotten flight ticket and we will be travelling with 18 man team. We need support for logistics, feeding and kicking" he quipped

He added that the team is yet to also get recognition and compensation from the government since its exploits in the last Nations Cup.

The 7th Amputee Nations Cup will be featuring 18 countries-

more than the last edition which had 10 teams on the card.

Olalekan, who lamented that the team also lack the best of facilities for training believes that the they are repleted with Technical crew and players that are capable to make the country proud.