NAMIBIA has selected a strong team of eleven athletes to compete at the International Paralympic Committee World Championships in Lyon, France.
All the athletes made the qualifying times for the World Championships which take place from 19 to 28 July, at events over the past year, while some have delivered exceptional performances in Europe over the past few weeks, putting them amongst the world’s best disabled athletes.
Most of the athletes qualified at IPC recognised events in South Africa earlier this year, while Namibia’s elite athletes have been competing in Europe over the past few weeks as part of the Vision 2016 programme.
The secretary general of the Namibia Paralympic Committee Pena Kandji said they are confident of winning medals at the competition.
“I am confident our athletes will do very well because they never disappoint their nation,” she said.
“They are all highly ranked in the world and have been training hard so we are expecting some medals,” she added.
Namibia’s 2012 Paralympics gold medallist Johanna Benson headlines the team and is still ranked number one in the world with her winning time of 29,26 seconds in the T37 200m final in London last year.
Benson will also compete in the 100m and the long jump at the World Championships after reaching the qualifying standards in these events.
Albertina Johannes, who has qualified for the 100m, 200m and 400m in the T46 category, has been in great form in Europe recently. On June 14 she set a personal best time of 13,98 seconds for the 100m which put her in the top eight on the world rankings and a week later she improved that time to 13,94 seconds.
Two young athletes who have come through the development ranks after participating at the 2012 SADC Youth Games in Zambia have also been included in the team. They are Lahja Ishitile who will compete in the T11 100m and 400m events and Frieda Nakanyala, who will compete in the T13 200m.
Namibia’s male athletes who have qualified are Ananias Shikongo, Johannes Nambala, Elias Ndimulunde, Martin Aloysius, Benjamin Kamuhanga and Reginald Benade.
Last weekend Shikongo excelled with a time of 23,02 at a meet in Ingolstadt, Austria, that puts him second in the world in the T11 category this year. Shikongo also qualified in the 100m and 400m events.
Ndimulunde has also put in some good performances recently in Europe. On June 14, he set a time of 23,10 seconds in the 200m which puts him amongst the world’s top eight athletes in the T46 category this year, while he has also qualified in the 100m and 400m.
But it is Johannes Nambala who has caught the attention with some great performances of late.
In Salzburg on June 15, he set a personal best time of 48,80 seconds for the 400m which was the fastest time in the T12 category so far this year. Last weekend he set times of 11,02 and 22,51 seconds for the 100m and 200m respectively in Ingolstadt which puts him second in the world rankings in both events this year.
Martin Aloysius qualified in the T12 Long Jump event, while Benjamin Kamahanga, a young development athlete, qualified in the T13 400m.
Reginald Benade also qualified in the F36 shotput and discus events at last year’s Paralympic Games but will not participate at the World Championships due to a back injury.
The rest of the team is made up of the two guides Even Tjiviju and David Ndeilenga.
Two Namibian disabled swimmers Gideon Nasilowski and Kaitlin Coleman will also represent the country at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada from 12 to 18 August.
Meanwhile, Kandji said that the Namibian National Championships will be held in Windhoek in September. At the same time the Namibia Paralympic Committee will hold executive elections to elect new members to its executive committee.
