Namibia’s Paralympic movement grows

CLOSE to 230 athletes will be in action this weekend when the Namibia Coca-Cola Para-Athletics national championships take place at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium.

It is a big increase on the 150 who participated at the last nationals two years ago, as new athletes have emerged, no doubt inspired by the success of Namibia’s Para-athletics world beaters.

At the Rio Paralympic Games last year, Ananias Shikongo emulated Johanna Benson by winning a gold medal when he won the T11 200m, setting a new Paralympic record.

Shikongo won two more bronze medals, and Johannes Nambala two silver medals to complete a record haul of five medals for Namibia.

Those achievements thrust them into the limelight and changed their lives. Shikongo got a new house and a (second-hand) car, and more sponsorships have come in, amongst others, for a foundation that the two Paralympian medallists have launched.

They have also inspired a new group of athletes who hope to follow in their footsteps and have been hard at work preparing for the national championships.

“A lot of youngsters have joined us, because these guys are their heroes. When they see that they even received houses, the youngsters realise that one can make a living from this. It is very motivating, and gives them the hunger to do well in sport,” said Mike Hamukwaya, the secretary general of the Namibia Paralympic Committee.

Coca-Cola has also provided major support over the years, and has become one of Namibia Paralympics’ biggest sponsors.

Last year they came on board at a crucial time, when the NPC was struggling to find sponsorships for the Rio Paralympics, and have remained steadfast in their support since then.

“The sponsorship from Coca-Cola had a major influence on the whole Paralympic movement, and helped us a lot with the preparation for the Paralympic Games,” Hamukwaya said.

TRAINING DILIGENTLY

“At the time, there were reports of no funds for the athletes, but then Coca-Cola came in. Through their sponsorship, they helped the athletes prepare properly for the Rio Paralympics. It came at a crucial moment because most athletes had given up by then since they had not received any help, until Coca-Cola’s sponsorship lifted their spirits,” he added.

Through the sponsorship, the athletes received food, nutritious drinks and accommodation leading up to the Paralympic Games, as well as for partaking in the South African Sport Association for the Physically Disabled (SASAPD) Games, which took place in Port Elizabeth earlier this year.

These sponsorships amounted to about N$160 000. But since then, Coca-Cola have enthusiastically continued their support, and have contributed more than N$50 000 towards the preparation and hosting of this weekend’s championships.

Shikongo, Nambala and other Paralympians like Johanna Benson and Lahja Ishitile will be the star attractions at the championships, but some of the newcomers to look out for include Etchegaray Nguluwe and Alfredo Bernado.

“Alfredo joined us after his father brought him to one of our training sessions, and he has been training diligently since then. He is totally blind and competes in the T11 category, like Ananias (Shikongo). This will be his first nationals, but he has a lot of potential,” Hamukwaya noted.

Nguluwe will make history as Namibia’s first ‘blade runner’ after he had his leg amputated last year, and had a specially-made prosthetic leg fitted.

He had previously competed with a deformed left leg, but had it amputated after receiving professional advice.

“At the 2015 IPC World Championships in Doha, he realised he could not compete. So, one of the classifiers advised him to have his leg amputated. We used some of our sponsorship funds from Coca-Cola and Nampower to procure a prosthetic leg specifically for him,” Hamukwaya explained.

Nguluwe had his first training run with his new leg earlier this week, and set a promising time of 14,14 seconds over 100 metres. That is still well off his personal best of 12,25, but coach Barbara Fernandes believes he can go much faster.

“For the first time, it is good, but I know he can run at least 11 or 12 seconds. He needs to work on his technique, but if he gets stronger competition in the same category, he will run faster,” she said.

Fernandes, who hails from Cuba, was seconded to Namibia for a second time this year, and will help prepare Namibia’s para-athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

LONG-TERM PREPARATIONS

She has been coaching the growing band of athletes with disabilities at the Katutura Youth Sport Complex, along with Hamukwaya, and said there were some good prospects for the future.

“Namibia now has a young and new team. There is talent, but there is a long road ahead, and a lot of work still needs to be done. But I think we have three or four good prospects for the 2020 Paralympics,” she noted.

As part of their long-term preparations, Namibia will compete at the 2018 Region 5 Youth Games in Botswana, as well as the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, although it will only cater for T11-category blind athletes.

Meryl Groenewald of Coca-Cola said they were proud of their support to the Namibian Paralympics movement, and called on other corporates to also get involved.

“We at Coca-Cola Namibia Bottling Company believe that these athletes are some of the most dedicated athletes in Namibia, and it is displayed in their performances and achievements. Coca-Cola, therefore, appeals to other corporate companies to become involved and support the Paralympic movement,” she added.

The Namibia Coca-Cola Para-Athletics National Championships start at 15h00 on Friday afternoon, and will continue from 08h00 on Saturday morning.

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