Frot Group Redeems N1m Pledge for Wheelchair B’ball Championship

Organisers of the annual Hon. Victor Ochei Wheelchair Basketball Championship have promised to make this year’s edition of the competition a memorable one. Former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei, bankrolls the Championship.

This year’s edition was originally billed to hold between September 19 -24 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Sports Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, but the President of Wheelchair Basketball Federation of Nigeria, Bukola Olopade said yesterday that it had been moved to October 3-8 to allow the players focus on the forth coming Paralympics Games in Rio, Brazil in September.

Olopade hinted that some sports-loving Nigerians, who pledged various financial supports towards the successful hosting of this year’s edition of the championship, have started to redeem it.

In particular, Olopade, a former Sports Commissioner in Ogun State, was full of praise for the owner of Frot Group, Frank Momoh for redeeming his pledge of N1 million.

He said: “Frank Momoh is one of the pillars we have in wheelchair basketball. He has been supporting the Victor Ochei Wheelchair basketball championship in the last four years. As we speak, he has redeemed the N1million pledge he made towards this year’s edition and we are very grateful to him. I can also tell you that some other Nigerians are coming to our support. We will make this year’s edition a memorable one,” Olopade stated.

Apart from his support for wheelchair basketball, Frank Momoh is also a supporter of table tennis and football. He was the only Nigerian who gave financial support to the duo of Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri during their preparation for the on-going Rio Olympics Games.
Momoh also gave the sum of $2,500 to Aruna Quadri for reaching the quarterfinal stage at the Olympics.

Meanwhile, over 15 states have entered for this year’s Victor Ochei wheelchair basketball championship, while Ghana, Benin Republic, Togo and Cameroun are expected to participate. There are indications that some para-military teams might be part of this year’s edition.