STELLENBOSCH – Namibian swimmer Matheus Angula won two gold medals at the South African Sports Association for the Physically Disabled (Sasapd) national championships underway in Stellenbosch.
The competition started on Monday, and ends on Thursday at the Coetzenburg Athletics Stadium.
Angula, affectionately known as ‘Spiderman’ by his teammates, became the first athlete to reach the podium for Namibia when he won the 100 metre backstroke in a time of two minutes and 12,48 seconds, and the 100m freestyle in 1:59,56.
Speaking to Nampa after the events on Monday, the Namibia Paralympic Committee’s secretary general Michael Hamukwaya was delighted with how Angula had improved over such a short period.
“Three years ago, Angula did not even have any techniques on swimming, but his coach Sonia Lindemeier has done a great job with him. Angula can now compete with swimmers who have been in the swimming pool longer than him. Before coming to the pool, he never even knew what a backstroke was, but he is now doing it,” he said.
Hamukwaya added that his goal at the moment is to see Angula grow as a competitor, and hopefully represent Namibia at the Paralympic Games.
Team Namibia consists of 21 athletes, and is competing in athletics (track and field) as well as swimming out of the 14 sports codes on offer at the Sasapd championships. – Nampa
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