WINDHOEK – Thirteen para-athletes gave a good account of themselves at the Coca-Cola Regional Club Challenge held in Windhoek over the weekend, when they recorded qualifying standard times for the upcoming World Para Athletics Championships slated for Dubai 7-15 November this year.
The first International Paralympic Committee (IPC)-sanctioned event took place at the Windhoek’s Independence Stadium over the weekend and was organised by Athletics Namibia (AN).
The event made it easier for athletes to partake as some of them already got their best times earlier in the year in South Africa.
Namibia Paralympic Committee (NPC) Secretary-General, Michael Hamukwaya, felt that athletes were not under pressure, as they were on home turf, compared to last year when they had to travel to South Africa to compete for qualification.
‘’The atmosphere was great. We have realised that when we go for qualifiers, we usually have to go out of the country and spend a lot of money. But this time around, we competed at home and we are just glad to see that everything went smoothly without any hiccups. It shows that anything can be done here at home,’’ he said.
Hamukwaya added that presently the athletes are training on their own with no funding available to put them in training camp.
‘’Our sponsors will only help us towards the championship itself; for preparations all is in our hands. We wanted to put them in the training camp at least in September so that they have adequate time to prepare and be in a good state to compete for the top four spots at the world championship,’’ he explained.
This is a sad situation given that Namibia will be competing against athletes from developed countries, who have already started their preparations, according to the secretary-general.
Hamukwaya said they would try to bring the team together the week before departure to do evaluations and try to catch up before the week-long event kicks off. The athletes that will finish in the top four positions in their respective groups will automatically be selected for Tokyo 2020.
The 13 athletes that have met world championship qualifying standards: Johannes Nambala (100m), Ananias Shikongo (400m), Namene Denzel (200m), Johanna Benson (100m), Karuli Petrus (1500m), Lahja Ishitile (200m), Bradley Murere (100m), Reginald Benade (Shotput), Shivolo Sylvia (Shotput), Amos Fillemon (400m), Mushila Eino (400m), Marungu Christopher (400m) and Martha Hitekalute (Shotput/Discuss).