NAN

President of the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), Gloria Shoda, on Wednesday, called on sports stakeholders to ensure adequate recognition of women performance in sports.

Shoda told NAN in Abuja that the call became necessary because women had made Nigeria proud in various sports but were not getting adequate recognition.

According to her, women football has been relegated to the background, yet they have won a lot of laurels for the country.

“I hope that Nigerians will know the value of women in sports and recognised them as well,’’ she said.

Shoda said that women footballers should enjoy as much benefits as their male counterparts.

“Women footballers in Nigeria should be enjoying what their men counterparts are enjoying.

‘’This is because the senior women’s national team, the Super Falcons, qualified for the World Cup the same year they had their first international outing.

“But it took the senior male national team, the Super Eagles, 40 years to qualify for the World Cup.

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“Also, the Super Falcons have won the African Women Championship six times, while the Super Eagles won the African Cup of Nations three times.

“So, we should be given the attention we deserve and not what we are experiencing.’’

Shoda said inadequate appreciation for women’s achievement in sports was a major problem with women’s participation in sports.

“Women’s contributions cannot be overemphasised as they do not only participate but also succeeded in sports administration.

“But the problem we have in this country is that, we do not sing praises of our women much when they win laurels for us at both individual and team sports.’’

She said that women had also continued to make the country proud, not just in football but also in all other sports.

Shoda recalled Blessing Okagbare’s exploits at the recently concluded International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) championship in Moscow, Russia was worthy of recognotion.

She said that Blessing won silver and bronze medals in long jump and 200 metres thus ending Nigeria’s 14-year-old medal drought in the IAAF championships.