JOHANNES Nambala has set his sights on winning a historic gold medal double at the IPC Athletics World Championships after the sprinter secured the country’s first medal in Doha, Qatar on Monday.
The 24 year-old raced to the men’s 200m T13 title in a new African record of 21,74 seconds in the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium.
The Namibian was chased hard all the way by Australia’s Chad Perris who settled for second place and an Oceania Record (21,82), while bronze medallist Mateusz Michalski of Poland set a new personal best (21,92).
Nambala managed a silver medal in the same event at the World Championships in 2013.
“He is very happy and proud of himself for what he has achieved,” coach and Namibia Paralympic Committee secretary general Michael Hamukwaya told The Namibian Sport on Tuesday.
Competing in his specialist 400m T13 event on Tuesday evening, Nambala is looking to defend a title that he stormed to in a championship record time of 49,07 seconds at the 2013 edition in Lyon, France.
It was the first time that Namibia had won a gold medal at the IPC World Championships, and came a year after Johanna Benson won a historic gold medal at the London Paralympic Games.
Nambala qualified for Wednesday’s final with the fastest time from the heats, making him the favourite for the title.
“He’s doing this for his country. We’re all excited but we are not getting carried away. At the moment we are more focused on the next race because we are hoping for a double. He is really motivated to achieve this goal,” Hamukwaya said.
Another Namibian, 19-year-old Rosa Manjoro was hoping to make the podium in the women’s 200m T13 final on Tuesday evening.
Also on Tuesday, Lahja Ishitile’s involvement at the athletics championships came to an underwhelming conclusion.
The 17-year-old finished last in her 100m T11 heat, a recurring theme of her Qatar experience as she also fell at the first hurdle in the 200 and 400m last week.
Similarly, the Doha championships have not gone well for Benson, who finished fifth and seventh in the women’s 400m and 100m T37 finals last week.
Benson is due to compete in the long jump on Wednesday, while her final event on Thursday will be the 200m sprint in which she managed bronze in 2013.
Another Namibian star whose ambitions have evaporated with the searing heat of Doha is Ananias Shikongo, who failed to make it out of the men’s 400m T11 opening round last Wednesday.
However, he is looking to make amends with an improved performance in the 200m on Wednesday afternoon.
“The team is well. The pressure was a bit much but we are better now. Everyone is focused on their next events. We still have Ananias (Shikongo) and (Johanna) Benson in the upcoming days,” said Hamukwaya.
“They are only worried that nobody will receive them at the airport when coming back from these games where they are representing and marketing Namibia at the highest level,” he added.
