KINTELE – Namibia’s T11 100 metre athletes Ananias Shikongo and Moses Tobias qualified for the 2016 Rio Summer Paralympic Games after recording impressive times at the 11th edition of the All Africa Games (AAG).
The AAG started on 4 September in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo and conclude on Saturday.
On Monday, Shikongo and Tobias beat the 12,30 seconds, which is the required time for athletes to qualify for the Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 07-18 September 2016.
Shikongo and Tobias both have visual impairments.
T11 100 metre athletes run blindfolded with the aid of a guide.
Tobias clocked 12,19 seconds in heat-two with the help of his guide, Andre Oberholser, while Shikongo and guide Sem Simanda recorded the best time of 11,40 seconds in all the heats on Monday.
Speaking to Nampa after the qualifiers, Shikongo said the AAG are “simple games” for him and he is happy to have recorded the best time to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games.
“Qualifying for Rio makes me work hard on my fitness from now on. I will be an African champion when I get to Rio; that means I am going to hammer them, because those Americans and Brazilians are my competitors,” he stated.
Tobias said that it was the first time he ran under 12,50 seconds and this showed him that he can still improve on his time ahead of Rio.
“I always run 12,89 seconds but this is good encouragement for me as an athlete, and I should thank my guide who always encourages me that I can make it. I am really happy to have run this time at the All Africa Games,” said Tobias.
Orberholser added that they now have enough time on their hands to start preparing together for Rio, and he is hopeful they can run under 12,00 seconds in the future.
This is the first time Tobias is participating in an international event of this magnitude. He was eliminated in the semi-finals of the T11 100 metres, while Shikongo won the gold medal in that race. Before that, he won a bronze medal at the 2013 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championships in Lyon, France and is the current African T11 200m champion.
In 2012, he was crowned Disabled Sportsman of the Year at the MTC/Namibia Sports Commission Sports Awards. – Nampa
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