All is now set for the 13th West Africa Deaf football tournament ( WADFT ) and 3rd West Africa Deaf Athletics Championship kicking off today at August 18th 2025 in Abuja.
The 12-day long event is slated to end on 30 August 2025 at the Package ‘B’ of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
Speaking to News men yesterday, President of the West Africa Deaf Sports Union ( WADSU), Amuda Yusu Ibrahim, revealed that the 2025 edition of the championship was in celebration of the 5Oth anniversary of the Economic Community of the West African States ( ECOWAS) and the continuous empowerment of deaf athletes in the sub-region, noting that deaf athletes are equally like their hearing counterparts, hence everything humanly possible should always be done to encourage them.
The President further informed that a total of eight participating countries will feature in the two-week exercise.
The participating countries include, Burkina Faso, Cote D’ Ivoire, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Niger Republic and host nation Nigeria.
The championship is serving as qualifiers to major international championships including the African Deaf football tournament, the African Deaf Athletics championship and the Deaflympics Games among others. Deaflympics,
Nigeria is the defending champion of both events.
Meanwhile, Vice President of the Nigeria Deaf Sports Federation (NDSF ), Comrade Ige-Jenyo Olawale who is also the technical committee chairman, promised that the championship be will be hitch free as everything is already in place in terms of logistics.
He hinted that team Nigeria athletes resumed close camping ahead of the competition hence are expected to come out tops knowing fully well that all eyes are on them to perform.
As hosts, Comrade Ige-Jenyo said expects an all round victory from team Nigeria knowing the significance of championship.
