Berlin Grand Prix prepares para-athletes for upcoming All African Games and World Championships
By Linda Machinga
Local para-athletes bagged 9 medals at the international para-athletics Grand Prix in Berlin, held from 30 to 1 July.
According to a statement the Berlin event served as a good preparation platform for the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Namibia. “We put now our team together for the All African Games and World Championships,” the Committee added.
At the games the elite-athletes Johannes Nambala and Ananias Shikongo with guide Even Tjiviju bagged gold, while the other athletes bagged 5 silver and 2 bronze medals.
Although other athletes like Marungu Christoph, Chris Kinda and Petrus Karuli did not win any medals the zeal they have for sports made them to be recognised and be seen at the games, the Commitee said.
“The medals won at the event shows that athletes can do much better than the way they did at the Committee games,” they added.
The Committee said at the games athletes gave each other support in order to put the country’s flag on the map by winning. “The results show that there is a lot of talent in Namibia, but there is also still a lot of work to be done for this team to improve the 5 medals won in the Paralympic Games of Rio 2016”.
Meanwhile the main sponsor NamPower was thanked for their support as they are always there for the para-athletes. “We also feel grateful for the assistance from our Namibian Embassy in Berlin. The athletes felt at home in Berlin. Our ambassador in Berlin, Andreas Guigeb, honoured our athletes by handing over the medals at the reception,”they added.
Furthermore gratitude was passed on to the Sport on the Move Foundation who introduced the Committee to new partners in The Netherlands.
According to the committee from now on they will continue to build the new team towards the Paralympic Games of Tokyo 2020.
