Namibia bags 17 medals in SA

PORT ELIZABETH – Namibian athletes with disabilities won 17 medals at the South African Disability National Sport Championships at Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The Nedbank South Africa Sport Association for the Physically Disabled and Visually Impaired (SASAPD) Championships started Sunday, and ended on Tuesday.

The competition was used by Namibian athletes as a qualifier for the 2017 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships to be held in London in June, and the IPC Athletics Junior World Championships to be held in Switzerland in August this year.

Team Namibia won 13 gold and four silver medals.

On the opening day of the games, the team won four medals - all gold.

On day two, the team won eight more medals - five gold and three silver - while on the last day of the championships, the team collected five more medals, of which four were gold and one silver.

Johanna Benson, Lahja Ishitile, Eliakim Ameinge, Abraham Hafenanye, Eino Mushila and Moses Tobias won the gold medals during the three-day competition.

Benson, Moses, Ameinge and Hafenanye also won the team's silver medals.

They won the gold and silver medals in the T11 100, 200 and 400m sprints; T37 100, 200 and 400m; T13 100m, 200m and 400m; and the T12 800m and 1500m.

Speaking to Nampa after the championships, Namibia Paralympic team head coach Richard Goreseb said he was overwhelmed by the athletes' achievements. He said athletes who had already qualified for the World Athletics Championships, like Ishitile and Benson, could now start preparing for the competition.

“They worked as a team, despite competing in different events. I now call on all the coaches to continue doing what they have been doing in the different regions as it has paid off at this competition,” he beamed.

Namibia Paralympic Committee official Memory Kahlari said credit should be given to NamPower for making the trip a success.

“We really appreciate what NamPower has been doing for us. They sponsored the whole trip, including fuel, accommodation and food for the athletes and officials. If we did not have this assistance, the team would not have been here to compete,” she noted.