Nigeria at the Paralympic Games

The Paralympics

The Paralympic Games and Nigeria

The Paralympics Game is an International sporting event featuring athletes with physical disabilities. This includes athlete with mobility disabilities, neurological disorders, blindness, and spastic paralysis, dwarfism and other visual impairments. The Paralympics Games are held every four years directly following the Olympic Games.

There are Winter and Summer Paralympics Game, and all Paralympics Game is governed by the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) which is the general body of all Paralympics Association in each country.

Paralympics Game consist of Football for the Blind, Wheelchair Tennis, Sitting Volleyball, Wheelchair Basketball, Paralympic Judo, Goalball, Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair Rugby, Paralympic Table Tennis, Paralympic Shooting, Boccia and related others.

Nigeria has a governing body that oversees the affairs of Paralympics Game, this body is known as Nigeria Paralympics Committee which is a non-profit organization that prepares and equips athletes with disabilities to represent them in Paralympics thereby providing them with the basic training required for outstanding performance.

Nigeria Paralympics Game aims at enabling Paralympics athletes to achieve sporting excellence also promoting the Paralympic values by creating sports opportunities for all persons with a disability, from amateur to professional level believing that there is an ability in disability.

In most African countries, individuals with disabilities such as physical disability, mental ill health, deaf or has difficulty in hearing, autism spectrum disorder are neglected in the society and are being prevented from participating in the society due to their instability and the attitudes claim to possess.

They are most times being discriminated and rejected in the society, always living in isolation, and to make them feel welcomed and treated as one, this is the reason why Paralympics Games is been held in each country to give those disabled athletes a voice to represent them both in sports and other areas of participation thereby allowing them to make a contribution to the society.

Benefits of the Paralympic Games

Just like any other sports in Nigeria and globally, this sports have been established for the disabled not only to feel belong in the society but also to train and develop themselves for a better and healthy living.

• Paralympics Games contributes to economic growth through the creation of job opportunities in the preparing of the Game.
• Paralympics Games improves the position and status of disabled individuals in the society.
• Paralympics Games creates an opportunity to meet up with the positions of developed countries through hosting of Paralympics tournaments in each country.
• Paralympics Games enhances and restores the predicament of disabled athletes thereby making their voice to be heard in the society.
• Paralympics promotes social and practical improvements for the disabled in the society.