To say that Nigeria’s Paralympics team has remained Nigeria’s saving grace at international competitions such as the Olympics and Commonwealth Games is stating the obvious.
At the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, the physically challenged athletes are once again the ones who are proving to be the torchbearers for Team Nigeria.
After days of competition, Nigeria was conspicuously missing on the medals table till the para-athletes began to ship in medals.
This development didn’t come to many as a surprise because the physically challenged athletes usually thrive where their able bodied counterparts falter.
As at the time of press, Team Nigeria being propelled by the para-athletes was eleventh on the table with four gold, five silver and two bronze medals.
The additional silver and two bronze medals were won in wrestling on Thursday.
Expectedly, the gold medals came from Para Powerlifting event with Ibrahim Abdulazeez picking up para-athletes’ latest medal in the men’s Heavyweight category.
Others before him who had etched their names in the books are Roland Ezuruike who began the sweep in the men’s lightweight category claimed the gold in the men’s lightweight final with 224.3 points with Nigerian Paul Kehinde securing silver.
In the female category, Esther Oyema set a new world record for the women’s under 50kg class with a 141.6kg lift in the women’s Lightweight category with a score of 141.6 lift at the Carrara Indoors Sports Centre.
Ndidi Nwosu also finished tops in the women’s Heavyweight class with her score of 110.4
So far, Nigeria has won medals in table tennis, shot put, wrestling and para powerlifting with the powerlifting team-leading Team Nigeria in winning a total of six medals – four gold and two Silver, and taking the country’s tally in Gold Coast to 11 medals.
As stated earlier, right from the time of Nigeria’s foray in the Olympics and other competitions, the able bodied athletes have not measured up to the performances of their physically challenged counterparts.
Since making their debut at the Barcelona Games in 1992 with six athletes, Nigeria’s Paralympics team has never returned empty-handed. They returned with three medals and that has been the trend in subsequent editions.
At the 2016 Games in Rio, the Paralympians did not just win gold medals, they broke records and set new ones such as Paul Kehinde (Powerlifting, Men’s 65kg); Bose Omolayo (Women’s 79kg); Lucy Ejike (Powerlifting, Women’s 61kg); Josephine Orji (Powerlifting, +86kg); Lauritta Onye (Para-Athletics, Women’s Shot put F40) and Flora Ugwunwa (Para-Athletics, women’s Javelin F54), en route the path to victory in their respective events.
Other gold medallists in Rio include Roland Ezuruike (Powerlifting, Men’s 54kg) and Ndidi Nwosu (Powerlifting, Women’s 73kg). Latifat Tijani (Powerlifting, Women’s 45kg) and Esther Oyema (Powerlifting, Women’s 55kg) won Silver medals, while Nnamdi Innocent (Powerlifting, Men’s 72kg) and Eucharia Iyiazi (Para-Athletics, Women’s Discus throw F57) scooped Bronze respectively.
The country has amassed a total of 70 medals: 36 gold, 18 Silver and 16 Bronze, from seven outings at the Paralympics, almost tripling the number of medals their able-bodied counterparts have won at the Olympics, a total of 25 medals from their participation in 16 Games.
These achievements have been a recurring decimal when these physically challenged men and women go on to represent the country. They are always the country’s saving grace.
Unfortunately, the world conquering Paralympics are usually abandoned and left to train on their own just like their able bodied counterparts.
However, most sports analysts believe there should be a more robust welfare package for them knowing full well how difficult it is for them to survive.
Ugly tales abound of how they are ill-treated, yet they are the geese that lay the golden eggs for the nation in terms of laurels at international competitions.
Interestingly, the ministry of Youth and Sports has already showered cash rewards on some of the athletes who have won medals for Team Nigerian at the ongoing Commonwealth Games.
Despite the effort by government, there are still calls for government to pay more attention to the physically challenged athletes.
It is against this background that the recent appeal by some of the physically challenged athletes to have audience with President Muhammadu Buhari is not coming as a surprise.
Moments after their victorious outings, the new women’s Para Powerlifting world record holder Esther Oyema and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Rowland Ezuruike said they would want an audience with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Their mission may not be hard to decipher as they are certainly in search of ‘Presidential motivation’ ahead of future competitions.
Oyema who lifted 131kg in the women’s lightweight final to set a new world record said that meeting President Buhari will be a dream come true.
“Today I have made sacrifices to make my country proud. I have won gold and set a third world record.
“I will like to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and I want him to make us proud too,” Oyema said.
As the games continue, expectations are high that Team Nigeria will cart home more medals and set new world records just as it is expected that government will continue to reward the athletes accordingly.
