A childhood dream come true: watching Kayode play tennis with a cane and a wheelchair — an example from a BBC video

They’re also the stars of a delightful BBC video released at the start of the games. Kayode said that he was his woman as they played a match. “I can beat him any day any time,” says Christiana with a chuckle. Kayode is walking using a cane. Christiana uses a wheelchair.

From an early age she was drawn to the sport. Even when I was very little, I loved it. and I used to play on the street,” she said in her official bio. There wasn’t a table tennis table in my village. We used to use little wooden benches on the street. We played with golf balls using bathroom slippers as racquets. I did not know I could get into it as a career.

The Lion King, the Lion King and the World’s Next Lion. The Story of Anne Wafula Strike, Polio, and the African Lion King

The couple went to Paris with the hope of medaling. Kayode, who’s nickname is “the Lion King” because of his aggressive style of play, believes both Nigeria and Africa can be the No. 1 team in the world. Their medal dream didn’t come true.

Tunji Funsho, a member of the International PolioPlus Committee who in 2020 was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people, said many teenagers and adults are suffering the consequences of having a previous outbreak of the disease. “For example, the opportunity to go to school. Even if they want to, they can’t move to get to the schools. It becomes a burden on families to take care of children.

Paralympian wheelchair racer and disability advocate Anne Wafula Strike contracted polio as a child in Kenya. She claims that her family had to flee because neighbors thought she was cursed. “They tried to burn down my dad’s mud hut,” Strike tells NPR, “We were ostracized for fear that what I had would be passed to other children.”

Strike received medical treatment and rehabilitation after moving to the capital city. But she still faced a lot of stigma: “I remember wanting to play with other little girls and their parents would see and call them to come in.”

Reflecting on her own life, she adds: “Sport was a blessing in disguise because, when I was in Africa, I never really played sports as a disabled young woman because that was not something that was available to me.”

I am working with athletes in the U.K. and other low-income countries. We are soon putting an academy together where people from low-income countries can be given opportunities to compete at the really high level in their sport.”