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The 2017 edition of the Victor Ochei International Wheelchair Basketball Championship is scheduled to hold between October 22 and October 28, organisers of the event have disclosed.
Former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei, has solely funded the Victor Ochei International Wheelchair Basketball Championship in the last six years.
He had also sponsored the Nigerian Wheelchair Basketball teams to various international competitions, including the Rio 2016 Olympics Games qualifiers in Algeria, where the country fielded both male and female teams.
The current economic situation in the country not withstanding, Ochei has given his word to continue to stick to his promise of using the wheelchair basketball to change the lives of many physically challenged people in Nigeria and some African countries.
According to the President, Wheelchair Basketball Federation of Nigeria (WBFN), Bukola Olopade, the 2017 edition, which is the sixth in the series, will witness the introduction of wheelchair basketball challenge.
 “The wheelchair basketball challenge is one of the several new things we are going to introduce in this year’s edition. It will carry its own prize money. We will hold a world press conference by the end of this month to officially announce the package,†Olopade stated.
Olapade, a former commissioner for sports in Ogun State, was full of commendation for Victor Ochei for his continuous pledge to empower special sports athletes in the country.
Some of the players, who spoke at the weekend after their morning training at the National Stadium in Lagos, praised Ochei for his continuous love for special athletes, especially when he is no longer in government.
“It is not common in Nigeria for people to continue sponsorship of a sporting event when they are no more in government. But Ochei has stuck to wheelchair basketball, which is commendable,†of the players said yesterday.
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