Abuja – Lukman Agbabiaka, the Secretary of Nigeria Deaf Sports Federation (NDSF), on Tuesday in Abuja said the Deaf Eagles would face the FIRS football team in a friendly match in January.
Agbabiaka told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the match would hold on Jan. 15 at the National Stadium in Abuja.
“We got the invitation letter to play with the staff of FIRS this December, but it was too late for us to start calling our players together.
“So, we decided to shift the match till next month,’’ he said.
The NDSF secretary said the match would help to prepare their team for the 7th West Africa Deaf Football Tournament and Deaflympics in 2017.
“We have players who represent the Federation whenever we have a competition and they always make us proud,” he said.
Agbabiaka however noted that paucity of funds stopped the Federation to organise any event in 2016, and expressed the hope for better times in 2017.
“We could not organise any major activity this year because of unavailable funds. The only football championship that we could schedule to hold was in Owerri in October.
“But we did not get positive news from our expected hosts.
“However, we hope to hear positive response from our sponsors next year, because we have two major tournament to participate in — the Deaflympics and the West Africa Deaf Football Tournament in Ghana.
“We hope the Minister of Youths and Sports, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), philantropists and those that love us will come to our aid.
“We need the support of all to be able to execute our plans for 2017,” he said.