Wheelchair Basketball Federation of Nigeria said on Wednesday that the second edition of the Victor Ochei National Open will hold in Lagos, highlighting the various innovations it has added to the championship.
President of the federation, Bukola Olopade, said there were considerable development in the sport since inception, adding that Nigeria had produced players who now play in professional rank in Europe.
He said, “The second edition is coming to Lagos in order to give it a national look. We are inviting Togo, Benin Republic and Ghana from West Arica to make appearance at the tourney.
“It’s a big challenge managing an unknown sport but we are proud of our achievement today. We have more than 12 players abroad and if we are able to bring them to the national team, we will be among the best in Africa.
“In the last Olympics qualifier, we lost the ticket to South Africa but before then, we had attended two other competitions where we did well.
“In 2007, we were at the All Africa Games in Algeria and in 2008, we took part in an African junior championship in Morocco where we came third, so the sport has the capacity to grow in Nigeria.”
Olopade also informed that the highlight of this year’s edition of the open was the inclusion of at least a female player in the men’s team.
“We want to encourage the women as well and we have identified some talent. What we have decided is to include at least one of them in the teams that will play at the tournament.”
Winners of the tournament will go home with N2.5m while the first runners up will win N1.2m in prize money. The third placed will receive N1m.