{"id":3659,"date":"2024-08-24T21:47:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-24T21:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/paralympics-2024-meet-the-power-couple-of-nigerian-para-table-tennis\/"},"modified":"2024-08-24T21:47:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-24T21:47:15","slug":"paralympics-2024-meet-the-power-couple-of-nigerian-para-table-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/paralympics-2024-meet-the-power-couple-of-nigerian-para-table-tennis\/","title":{"rendered":"Paralympics 2024: Meet the power couple of Nigerian Para-table tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Alabis&#8217; tale is particularly compelling because of the barriers they face in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Both were affected by polio as children, which is why Christiana uses a wheelchair, while Kayode lost the use of his right leg and requires support to walk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I was the only child with a disability in my community, which made life very difficult,&#8221; Christiana revealed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;My disability made it hard to make friends and I was very shy, rarely mingling with others.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Although Kayode had a similar experience, he did find support in his friends. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Some friends would take turns to carry me on their back,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It was tough to keep up with transport to school or training. I was always the last person to get on the bus because I waited for the crowd to thin out first.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">As adults, the couple still find their daily lives marked by significant obstacles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Navigating from our home to the training ground is extremely challenging,&#8221; said Kayode.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Finding a bus that can accommodate my wife&#8217;s wheelchair is not easy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">According to the Nigerian National Development Plan 2021-2025, more than 96% of people with disabilities in the country lack access to assistive devices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When it comes to public infrastructure &#8211; which includes things like buildings, transportation and roads &#8211; 98.5% remains inaccessible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Despite these hurdles, Christiana finds solace in their mutual support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We help each other out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Kayode is very caring. If I need something and don&#8217;t want to go out, he&#8217;ll take care of it for me. Financially, we manage well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/table-tennis\/articles\/c24pz6vnje7o\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Alabis&#8217; tale is particularly compelling because of the barriers they face in Nigeria. Both were affected by polio as children, which is why Christiana uses a wheelchair, while Kayode lost the use of his right leg and requires support to walk. &#8220;I was the only child with a disability in my community, which made [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-africa","category-world-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3661,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions\/3661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}