The 2017 World Winter Games will hold between Tuesday, 14 to Saturday, 25 March in Austria.

A send forth ceremony was held for the 22 athletes that make up Team Nigeria on Thursday, March 9 at Vigeo Holdings, Ikoyi.

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The event marked the high point of the athletes’ preparations for the World Winter Games as they are set to compete in unusual sports like floor hockey and floorball.

Nollywood stars Kate Henshaw and Linda Ejiofor were present to lend their goodwill and support to the athletes.

The send forth event was organised by Special Olympics Nigeria, the Nigerian equivalent of Special Olympics, an organisation set up by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in the early 1960s with the purpose of providing year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.