Sixteen Para-Powerlifters will represent the country at the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) World Championships, in April in Dubai, an official of the Nigeria Para-Powerlifting Federation (NPPF) said on Thursday.

The NPPF is an affiliate of the Nigeria Paralympics Committee (NPC).

The NPPF Technical Director, Samuel Ekeoma, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the powerlifters qualified for the competition from two previous international competitions.

The competitions, he said, were Powerlifting Championships in February 2013 in Dubai and the Powerlifting Asian Open in Malaysia in November 2013. “Our athletes performed well at the two competitions. Yakubu Adesokan, broke the world record at the Asian championships in Malaysia. Adesokan lifted 176kg to erase the 165kg world record of Egyptian Taha Abdelmagid. Ruth Dodo also won bronze at the Malaysia championships. So, we are going to build on the success recorded in 2013 to achieve greatness at the IPC championships,” he said.

According to him, the IPC championships will serve as the criterium for participation in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil.

“With the assessment of what we did in 2013, the federation will not relent in its effort to maintain and surpass its performance this year,” he said.

Ekeoma added that the federation would attend more international competitions this year to prepare its athletes ahead of the Paralympic Games.

“If our athletes participate in more international tournaments, it will keep them abreast or even above their counterparts in world competitions,’’ he said.

The director commended the National Sports Commission (NSC) for its support and appealed to corporate bodies to complement government’s effort in encouraging physically challenged athletes to participate in sports.