24 November 2008
Lagos — Championship that is at the semi-final stage in Equatorial Guinea presently, have no trust in the straight-forwardness of the players of the host team of the tournament. They have therefore decided to on and ask that the Confederation of African Football conduct gender check on at least two players of its members.
NFF 1st Vice-president, Amanze Uchegbulam, who is Nigeria's Chef de Mission to the tournament said on Sunday that a similar protest by the Cameroon delegation ahead of the tournament's opening match was ignored by CAF.
"We know that the organisers may not take action but we feel strongly about this. There are two players in the Equatorial Guinea team whose gender is doubtful and CAF will do this competition a lot of good if this issue is cleared.
"It is a competition where all the teams should have level-playing field, most especially on gender matter."
Another official, Tunde Aderibigbe said the players involved are those registered with the number 5 and 8 shirts; Binguisa Simpore and Salimata Simpore, respectively. These players, he said, were originally from Burkina Faso.
"These two players are not women and this is women's tournament", insisted Aderibigbe, the special assistant to the NFF President.
Nigeria plays Equatorial Guinea in the tournament's first semi final on Tuesday, starting from 2pm at the National Stadium in Malabo.
The Falcons, winners of all five previous editions, sneaked into the semi finals as second best team in Group B after drawing with Ghana and Tunisia and piping South Africa. The team scored only two goals and conceded one.
Tuesday's other semi final is between South Africa and Cameroon, also in Malabo.
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