Former President of the Para Powerlifting Federation, Ms. Queen Uboh Idris at the weekend explained that she decided to donate N600, 000 to 30 powerlifters, coaching crew and some former Para Olympic athletes to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on them.
Among the beneficiaries of the gesture were Paralympic gold medalist Kehinde Paul, 2018 Commonwealth gold medalist Omolayo Bose, 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Precious Orji, Innocent Nnamdi, Ibrahim Abdulaziz, Solomon Oluwaseun and Victoria Nneji.
Those who benefited from the coaching crew were Are Feyisetan, Patience Igbiti, Patrick Akutekwe and Pepsuzie Obi Aluko.
Each person received of N20, 000.
According to Uboh, the money was to help the athletes to take care of their immediate little needs.
“I am aware that the needs of these physically challenged athletes will triple as a result of the global lockdown. Without competitions, they usually don’t earn money and the cancellation of all sporting activities would have affected them a lot.
“But this is my own little contribution towards alleviating their hardship. I urge them to continue to train individually so that when the ban is lifted, they will not be competition rusty,” Uboh said.
Apart from the athletes, the family of the late para-powerlifter, Ndidi Nwosu, also received the palliative.
Nwosu’s husband, Ikechukwu Nwosu, got N30, 000 apart from an earlier N50, 000 given to the family.
