by Chris Agbo
8th Edition of the World Polio Day National Parasoccer Tournament took place at Old Parade Ground, Area 10, Garki, Abuja from Wednesday 21st October to Saturday 24th October 2020.
The tournament which had 8 teams representing 8 states were grouped into two.. The groups were Kano, Nassarawa, Lagos and Sokoto in group A while group B had Bauchi, Katsina, Yobe and Zamfara.
The tournament started with Kano beating Nasarawa 2-0 and Katsina defeated Yobe 3-2.
Action continued on the second day with matchday records such as Kano whooping Sokoto 7-0 and Katsina thrashing Bauchi 4-1.
Nasarawa got over their earlier defeat by Kano and whitewash Lagos 9-0, Yobe got better and thrashed Zamfara 6-2. Lagos on their second game got over their earlier whitewash by Nasarawa and defeated Sokoto 2-0.
Day 3 saw Bauchi and Zamfara played out a 1-1 draw in the early kick off, Nasarawa continued their fine form by whooping Sokoto 6-0. Bauchi in their second game of the day played another 1-1 draw with Yobe. Kano in their usual style thrashed Lagos 6-1 and Katsina got better of Zamfara 3-1.
Kano, Nasarawa, Katsina and Yobe advanced to semi finals having placed first and second in the respective groups, with Kano topping group A with maximum 9 points and Nasarawa placed second in the same group with 6 points, Katsina topped group B with 9 points and Yobe placed second with 4points.
Kano defeated Yobe 4-2 to get the final while Nasarawa set up a crunchy final with Kano with 3-2 win over Katsina.
On 24th October 2020, the losers final between Yobe and Katsina ended in a barren draw and Katsina won 2-1 through penalty shootout.
In the final, Kano retained the trophy they won last year by beating Nasarawa who put up a good fight 1-0.
The tournament team standing in a glance:
Kano-1st Position,
Narasawa-2nd position
Kastina-3rd position
Congratulation to Team Kano State.
The President of the Parasoocer Federation of Nigeria. Misbau Lawal Didi while speaking with the press appealed for sponsors of the tournament especially the subsequent editions and a proposed league for Parasoccer. He called for corporate bodies and NGOs to come and collaborate with the Federation to kickstart a league for Parasoccer which will enhance the development of the game to the good of these polio survivors.
Some clips of the tournament
