Team Nigeria’s contingent departs for Rio today

The Federal Ministry of Sports says it has concluded plans to airlift Team Nigeria’s contingent to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games today.

According to the Paralympics Committee Nigeria’s Media Officer, Patrick Ibeh, the team, which is made up 23 athletes and six coaches, as well as one athlete’s competition partner, will depart the country through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja aboard an Emirate Airline at 5.00 p.m.

He said the secretary general of the Paralympic Committee Nigeria, Dr. Frank Thorpe and some senior officials of the sports ministry, are already in Rio to prepare for the arrival of the contingent before the games begins on September 7.

According to Ibeh, the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, has charged the athletes to be good ambassadors of the country by competing clean at the games.

One of the athletes, Nick Chinedu Emmanuel, a table tennis player, has promised that he would win a gold medal for Nigeria.

“My mission is to win gold for Nigeria and by the grace of God, I will come back to Nigeria with a solid gold medal,” he said,

Also sounding optimistic is the powerlifting head coach, Prince Are Feyisetan, who has vowed to repeat his London 2012 Paralympic Games record of six gold medals if the lifters adhered to instructions.