Special Olympics Nigeria has successfully concluded the Sports for Hope Initiative with a grand finale tournament featuring football and volleyball, informative talks, entertaining performances as well as health screening for attendees.
The event which held on Saturday 30th November, 2019 at the Campus Mini Stadium, Lagos Island was sponsored by the Embassy of France in a bid to foster amongst communities the inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWIDs), psychological empower them and promote a positive lifestyle choices with the use of Football and Volleyball as its driving sports tool.
Speaking at the event, Special Olympics National Director, Naomi Ejobe whilst addressing attendees thanked the sponsors of the event appreciating them for their continued support. She noted that the event wouldn’t have possible without their support. Naomi also commended athletes from the various communities for participating in all activities that was organized by the team stating that the impact of what they have learned in the past few months has been visible.
Also speaking at the event, the Ambassador of France to Nigeria, Jerome Pasquier who stated that, “the embassy is very happy to support Special Olympics team in carrying out this noble course noting that France is well recognized in sporting activities and we take the game of Football very important. Sponsoring the Sports for Hope initiative is an avenue to foster relationship amongst both countries and most importantly to understand the people, its culture and values”.
Pasquier also noted that the Embassy of France is willing to continuously support Special Olympics Nigeria.
In the game of football, the third-place match between Bariga and Ajegunle saw Bariga emerge as winners while Ikorodu emerged winners of the Volleyball game after defeating their Isolo counterparts. For the first place battle in football between Mushin and Agege, Mushin also won the gold medal, having scored a single goal against the second place winners, Agege. The celebration was contagious as members of the winning team danced and jubilated across the field. Winners were presented with medals and a special award for “The Most Valuable Player” was presented to Adeola Adegoke of the Mushin Football team.
Anthony Nlebem
