Maureen Mmadu Kiddies Club (MMKC) risk missing the 2022 Dana Cup Tournament following the refusal of Danish Embassy to issue the young Nigerian girls visas, Completesports.com reports.
MMKC being single-handedly run by a former Super Falcons midfielder, captain and assistant coach, Maureen Mmadu, are scheduled to travel on Sunday, July 24, but refusal of the Embassy to grant the team visas now places the young girls dream participation in the invitational tournament in tatters.
The 24-man contingent, comprising 18 players and six officials, checks reveal, had completed all documents that would qualify them participation in the tournament, including participation/registration fees, visa fees, amongst others, but are left disappointed wondering why the Embassy of Denmark has bluntly refused to grant their visa application.
Completesports.com understands that more worrisome is the fact that organisers of the tournament have severally written to the Embassy confirming MMKC’s official invitation to the tournament and completition of all participation requirements.
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The organisers also on July 13 wrote to the Embassy and pleaded that everything possible be done to assist the Nigerian girls to get the entry documents.
“We’ve known the MMKC for about a year now and we want you to assist and ensure that they participated in this tournament by facilitating their visa processing and approval,” the letter by the Dana Cup organisers said in a correspondence to the Danish Embassy and copied to Maureen Mmadu.
It was gathered that Maureen Mmadu registered for the Dana Cup way back in 2020 but the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic ensured postponement of the tournament to August 2022.
Presently, team are camped at the Nigerian Institute for Sports, NIS, Lagos, where they have spent over N400, 000 for their pre tournament camping.
Completesports.com also learned that Mmadu risks losing over N10m personal investment in the trip while the girls, through their parents, have equally committed various sums of money to ensure their participation in the tournament which they see as a new vista for their career amidst the Super Falcons’ painful WAFCON 2022 semi-final defeat to Morocco.
It would be a slight on prominent Anambra State indigenes and critical stakeholders in the game if these young girls’ dream of participating in the tournament fades over a lack of committed effort to compel the Embassy to do the needful.
“It’s not about me, it’s about these young girls, their careers and their future,” an emotion-ladder Maureen Mmadu told Completesports.com.
