Paris 2024-Para athletes charged to be ambassadors

The President of Paralympics Committee Nigeria(PCN), Mr. Sunday Odebode, has charged the para athletes to be good ambassadors of the country as the athletes departed the country Monday on a training tour of Germany.

The athletes, their training partners and coaches traveled in batches aboard Ethiopia Airline, Qatar and Royal Air Maroc.

Team Nigeria athletes will participate in para athletics, para badminton, para table tennis and para powerlifting.

Odebode who is also Chairman, para table tennis while speaking at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, shortly before the athletes boarded, advised them to stay away from any form of vices that can tarnish the image of the country but should always represent the country well at any given time.

He said,  “We have done all that are expected of us to do from federation level to the PCN and my message to you as you are embarking on this trip is to be good ambassadors of our great nation by making the country proud during on and off event venues.

“Inasmuch as I want to win medals, it should be noble and I will not want to promise the number of medals we are bringing home but I  strongly believe we shall be on the podium.”

Also,while speaking with journalists, the Team Nigeria Assistant Captain, Femi Alabi table tennis (Class 10), said the athletes are in good frame of mind having been in camp for almost three months,  adding that the training tour will be a plus for the team with the utmost hope of doing well.

Alabi said, “We shall not disgrace the nation but I will not say categorically the number of medals we are bringing home but I can assure Nigerians that we shall bring medal home.”

It would be recalled that Nigeria won 10 medals at the last Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.