NAMIBIA’s Paralympics team hopes to restore the nation’s pride when they leave for Rio next week to compete at the Paralympic Games.
The team paid a courtesy call on the Namibia Sport Commission (NSC) on Wednesday where the secretary general of the Namibia Paralympic Committee, Mike Hamukwaya said they were ready and focussed on getting good results.
“We have been hard at work, preparing for this moment and now we are ready to go and represent our country at the Paralympic Games. We usually get good results at international events and we have received good support from the Ministry of Sport – we’ve been together for four months now, so we have had great preparation,” he said.
The team leaves next Monday, 29 August while the Rio Paralympic Games will be held from 7 to 18 September.
The chairperson of the NSC Joel Matthews wished the team luck, saying they expected them to return home as heroes.
“All of you have worked very hard to qualify and now you must focus on the task ahead and that is to go and compete and to bring medals back home. We want to give you a heroes welcome when you come back home and after our flag is raised amongst the winning nations at the Paralympic Games. The coaches have done their part to make sure that you are ready so now it’s up to you to compete to the best of your ability,” he said.
“The government has provided funds for your preparations so you must use all the knowledge and expertise that you have learnt to represent us – we have big expectations because you have done it before,” he added.
Mathews said the nation was disappointed with the performances of Namibians at the recently concluded Olympic Games where Namibia failed to win a medal.
“Our team did not win any medals at the Olympic Games which is disappointing – as a nation we must start looking at how to evaluate this and what must be done to get results,” he said.
He added that Namibian boxer Jonas Junias remained in Rio after being accused of sexual harassment, but that he had the full support of the government.
“Jonas Junias remained in Rio after being accused of sexual harassment but our deputy minister assured us that she believes Jonas is innocent. So let’s hope he is released soon and will come back home to meet his family and we want to assure him that we are behind him every step of the way,” he said.
Mathews also thanked the government for its financial support of the team as well as Coca-Cola, Seaflower and Miss Namibia 2015 for their support. He also thanked the Ministry of Environment and Tourism for coming on board as a partner of the Paralympics team.
The deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism Louisa Mupetami said they had partnered with the Paralympian team to help promote their anti poaching awareness campaign.
“We saw it as a good opportunity to convey the message abroad so we partnered with the Paralympics Committee. The Paralympic Games will provide an excellent platform to convey our message and we are very grateful for this partnership,” she said.
The Namibian Paralympic team consists of nine athletes, four guides and seven officials.
The athletes are led by ‘golden girl’ Johanna Benson who won Namibia’s first ever gold medal at the Paralympic Games four years ago.
Benson will once again be a medal contender in the women’s T37 category where she will compete in the 100m, 400m and long jump.
Other strong medal contenders include Johannes Nambala, the current T13 200m world champion; T11 athlete Ananias Shikongo who won three gold medals at last year’s All Africa Games; and T11 athlete Lahja Ishitile who won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Namibia’s other athletes are Martin Aloysius (T12 – 400m), Elias Ndimulunde ( T46 – 100m, 400m), Moses Tobias (T11 – 100m, 400m), powerlifter Ruben Soroseb and swimmer Gideon Nasilowski.
The four guides accompanying the team are Sam Shimanda, David Ndeilenge, Even Tjiviju and Andre Oberholster.
The officials are as follows:
Chef de Mission – Nicklaus Nghumoono; team manager – Iitwayi Johannes; team administrator – Memory Kahlari; Athletics coach – Michael Hamukwaya; assistant athletic coach – Ivon Perez; powerlifting coach – Ndamian Ndengu; and swimming manager – Sonia Lindemeier.
