TWO athletes left here on Tuesday for Cairo, Egypt to represent Zanzibar in the Pan African Special Olympics games which officially start today.
The runners who are engaged in the tour are Salama Kheir Idriss (15) and Hidaya Ali Vuai (12) and their trip was facilitated by Unguja South regional commissioner Ayoub Mohamed Mahmoud.
The regional commissioner provided the team return tickets and sports stakeholders supported the trip by also providing subsistence allowances to the young runners.
Speaking to the runners before departing, the regional commissioner has called on more stakeholders to come forward and support the development of athletics in the Isles.
He commended the support from ROM Solutions Company who sponsored the return tickets and other House representatives; Mwantatu Mbarak and Wanu Hafidh who provided the runners with boat tickets from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam from where they took a flight to Cairo.
He also lauded Zanzibar Port Corporation who provided running gear and Unguja South Municipality who provided allowance to the runners and officials who accompanied the team.
While in Dar es Salaam, the two runners joined others from Tanzania Mainland, also heading to Egypt. The athletes and officials travelling for the event included Khalfan Jihadi, Elizabeth Kisaka and Nerverson Minja while Saada Hamad is a team’s matron.
The first-ever Special Olympics Pan African Games will be held in Egypt under the auspices of the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the Chairperson of the African Union.
More than 1,000 volunteers and 100,000 spectators will join together in selected venues in Cairo to celebrate the accomplishments of over 1,000 athletes from 47 Special Olympics countries around the African continent.
