Lack of spike shoe denies Niger athlete medal

By Correspondent in Benin

Lack of Spike-Shoe has denied Victoria Joseph,one of the Niger state athletes to the 20th edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF) ‘Edo 2020’in Benin, the opportunity to win medal at the finals of the deaf long jump.

Our correspondent reports that Joseph, who is the second-best among the deaf long jump athletes in Nigeria, fell below her personal abilities due to lack of spike shoe as the ones said to have been supplied to them were substandard.

One of the athletes Coaches who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity was furious about what happened to Joseph the much anticipated medal, adding that specifications were given to the supplier and contractor.

The source,who was visibly worried said, “Despite the fact that we gave them specifications of the kind of equipment the athletes would need for the on-going Sports Festival, what they brought to us is different from what we requested from them.

“I am not happy that after painstakingly training for this festival, a spike-shoe should deny her a medal, Victoria is one of our medal hopefuls, but because of spike-shoe, she finished third, very annoying that she ended up as the second-best deaf athlete in the country today”.

“If I have money on me I would have bought her a standard spike-shoe so that she can be happy and retain her place in national ranking. I want the best for my athletes but unfortunately, this is what we are seeing.

“Things are not going straight as it seems to look with us in the state and I had expected that the righting thing needed to be done for the Niger state sports sector to develop. It is very embarrassing,”the source,who is also a coach lamented.

He, however, expressed preparedness to continue to encourage the athletes attain her desired dreams but hinted that Joseph had another chance to redeem herself and put behind the long jump experience as she would be running in the 800m