Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA can look to the future with renewed optimism following an impressive showing at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix, which concluded in Marrakech, Morocco, on Saturday.
NAMIBIA can look to the future with renewed optimism following an impressive showing at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix, which concluded in Marrakech, Morocco, on Saturday.
The Land of the Brave placed fourth overall from 41 nations that competed at the three-day international athletics meet after amassing 31 medals.
“This is really one of our biggest achievements. It shows the Namibia Paralympic Committee (NPC) as an organisation . . . there is hope for development and for the new generation of athletes,” NPC secretary general Michael Hamukwaya said at the weekend.
“It shows our development plan is working quite well. To have these young athletes coming in for their maiden international appearance and winning medals is something exciting. It makes our team more stronger,” he said.
Nearly 120 track-and-field medal events took place inside the Grand Stadium de Marrakech.
Namibia claimed nine golds, eight silvers and 14 bronze medals.
Not surprisingly, veteran Ananias Shikongo, Johannes Nambala, Roodley Gowaseb, Bradley Murere and Lahja Ishitile were among the medallists.
However, it is the emergence of Chris Kinda, Christopher Marungu and Lahja Ipinge, who all reached the podium, that had Hamukwaya purring with delight.
“It gives us more athletes who are at an international level. It shows the Paralympic movement is in good hands. We know we have our champions like Ananias and Johannes, but they’ve been in the game for a long time,” Hamukwaya said in a post-competition assessment of the team’s performance.
“I believe seeing some replacements coming through is a happy thing, and this shows the Namibian Paralympic movement has a great future with all these young athletes coming through,” he said.
“To be in the top-five ranking is an amazing achievement for our country. It shows that when our athletes come to these major competitions, they are not just coming to take part but to compete against anybody in the world. We are really proud and happy.
Hamukwaya said getting the athletes to the Marrakech Grand Prix was in itself a significant challenge financially.
However, it was worth the investment from leading disability sport sponsor NamPower.
Apart from medalling, several of the newcomers received classifications and picked up crucial points needed to qualify for next year’s World Para Athletics Championships.
“To compete here was a really huge opportunity. It’s one of the last major competitions for the year also. The biggest achievement is the classification,” Hamukwaya said.
“It has opened our pathway for the Paris 2023 World Championships. This is a good way to start the journey towards the campaign of qualifying for Paris 2023.”
Namibia hopes to send a bigger team to the world championships than the three athletes who managed two medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We’re excited and just looking for more and better competition so that we can at least get more slots and stronger athletes competing at the world champs. When we come to the world champs, Namibia can at least win more medals during that competition and surpass what we did at the last world championships in Dubai.”
The Land of the Brave placed fourth overall from 41 nations that competed at the three-day international athletics meet after amassing 31 medals.
“This is really one of our biggest achievements. It shows the Namibia Paralympic Committee (NPC) as an organisation . . . there is hope for development and for the new generation of athletes,” NPC secretary general Michael Hamukwaya said at the weekend.
“It shows our development plan is working quite well. To have these young athletes coming in for their maiden international appearance and winning medals is something exciting. It makes our team more stronger,” he said.
Nearly 120 track-and-field medal events took place inside the Grand Stadium de Marrakech.
Namibia claimed nine golds, eight silvers and 14 bronze medals.
Not surprisingly, veteran Ananias Shikongo, Johannes Nambala, Roodley Gowaseb, Bradley Murere and Lahja Ishitile were among the medallists.
However, it is the emergence of Chris Kinda, Christopher Marungu and Lahja Ipinge, who all reached the podium, that had Hamukwaya purring with delight.
“It gives us more athletes who are at an international level. It shows the Paralympic movement is in good hands. We know we have our champions like Ananias and Johannes, but they’ve been in the game for a long time,” Hamukwaya said in a post-competition assessment of the team’s performance.
“I believe seeing some replacements coming through is a happy thing, and this shows the Namibian Paralympic movement has a great future with all these young athletes coming through,” he said.
“To be in the top-five ranking is an amazing achievement for our country. It shows that when our athletes come to these major competitions, they are not just coming to take part but to compete against anybody in the world. We are really proud and happy.
Hamukwaya said getting the athletes to the Marrakech Grand Prix was in itself a significant challenge financially.
However, it was worth the investment from leading disability sport sponsor NamPower.
Apart from medalling, several of the newcomers received classifications and picked up crucial points needed to qualify for next year’s World Para Athletics Championships.
“To compete here was a really huge opportunity. It’s one of the last major competitions for the year also. The biggest achievement is the classification,” Hamukwaya said.
“It has opened our pathway for the Paris 2023 World Championships. This is a good way to start the journey towards the campaign of qualifying for Paris 2023.”
Namibia hopes to send a bigger team to the world championships than the three athletes who managed two medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We’re excited and just looking for more and better competition so that we can at least get more slots and stronger athletes competing at the world champs. When we come to the world champs, Namibia can at least win more medals during that competition and surpass what we did at the last world championships in Dubai.”
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