The country
has failed to participate in the ongoing 2017 Deaflympic Games in Samsun,
Turkey, due to the Turkish Embassy’s refusal to issue visas to the national
deaf football team.
The 2017 Summer Deaflympics, officially called the 23rd
Summer Deaflympics, is an international multi-sport event that began on July 18
and will end on July 30 with athletes from 97 countries competing in 21 sports.
The team’s Coach, Banjo Kamiludeen, told newsmen on Saturday in Lagos that
efforts to get visas for the team proved abortive.
“Honestly, the whole thing
is very disheartening; we did everything possible but the embassy denied the
team visas to participate in the Deaflympics. “The Federal Ministries of
Sports, Internal and External Affairs were involved in the whole process but to
no avail; the World Deaf Football body wrote to the embassy but nothing
happened. “As I speak, the embassy didn’t give us any cogent reason why we were
denied visas to the competition,’’ he said.
Kamiludeen added that participating
in the Games would have been life changing for the deaf players and urged the
government to take measures to address such issues.
“Many of the players are in
a very bad state of mind now, they have prepared their body and mind for the
Games only to get a negative news. “We got sponsorship from “Bet9ja’’, a gaming
outfit, to attend the event but it is sad everything ended this way.
“I appeal
to Federal Government to summon the Turkish Ambassador to give reasons why the
team was denied visas,’’ he said. The national deaf team had its first outing
at the 2013 Deaflympics in Sofia, Bulgaria, and crashed out in the group
stage.
0 Comments