Nigeria’s contingent is bracing up for the start of the 2019 Special Sports Olympics on March 14th, with officials hinting that the athletes and officials will be ready to make the country proud.
Sports247.ng learnt that, heading into the start of the World Summer Games, Nigeria is preparing an 86-person delegation for the trip to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates next month.
The delegation with have 60 athletes and 26 officials, who will grace the Games from March 14th to 21st, with high hopes of returning home with laurels from the competition, which holds every two years.
Nigeria winning 12 gold and 10 silver medals at the 2017 Winter Special Sports Olympic Games in Austria, where the country was represented by 22 athletes.
The country will now hope to do better in Abu Dhabi, where Nigeria will participate in eight sporting events – athletics, badminton, basketball, football, table-tennis, volleyball, swimming and cycling.
The Games is expected to bring together 7,000 athletes, 3,000 coaches, 1,500 officials, 20,000 volunteers, 3,000 invited guests, 6,000 family members and over 500,000 spectators from over 170 nations.
It will be the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Special Olympics, and the beginning of the next fifty years of the inclusion movement.
An official promo for Abu Dhabi 2019 read: “The Games will serve to expand worldwide commitment for the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in all areas of life and create a platform for a public education campaign to increase understanding, respect, and tolerance around the world.”
