MORE success came Namibia’s way on the final day of action at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Berlin as the country’s stars racked up a further five medals to take their final haul to 15.
Following an impressive showing on Saturday, the Namibian team collected three golds, a silver and a bronze on Sunday to round off a successful outing at the three-day penultimate grand prix of the 2016 International Paralympic Committee’s athletics season.
The team amassed seven golds and a pair of silvers and bronze on day two of the competition.
Fresh from winning gold (400m) and silver (100m), teenager Lahja Ishitile showed her class and consistency when winning the women’s T11 200m final in a time of 26,63 seconds. She posted 26,70 in the heats.
T11 star Ananias Shikongo won his 200m final with consummate ease, beating his biggest rival for the Olympic title, American David Brown, into second place.
Aided by his guide Even Tjiviju, Shikongo, who bagged 400m gold and 100m silver a day earlier, destroyed a world-class field with a winning time of 22,17 in the final after posting 23,27 in the heats.
Moses Tobias and his guide Andre Oberholster ran 24,37 to get bronze.
“I’m really happy for the win because I was prepared for it,” said Shikongo, who won world silver at Doha 2015.
“This is an indication that I am ready for Rio. My main target is to win the gold medal for Namibia. The 200m is my favourite event, and these last three years, I have been preparing hard for it.”
Shikongo anchored the men’s 4×100 team to gold in the final event on the track, putting the silver lining on a successful plunder abroad for Namibia.
T13 speedster Johannes Nambala ran the first leg, establishing a healthy lead for Namibia by the time he handed over the baton to Tobias and guide Oberholster. They maintained the lead before passing on to Martin Aloysius (T12), who safely navigated his leg and handed over to Shikongo and guide Tjiviju to take it home in 45,14 seconds.
Aloysius had earlier secured a long jump berth at the Olympics with a 6,34m leap, exceeding the ‘A’ qualifying standard. That effort also earned him a silver medal in Sunday’s contest.
Namibia Paralympic Committee secretary general Michael Hamukwaya hopes the team can carry their scintillating form to Rio.
Apart from the impressive medal haul and one African record, which was broken by Ananias Shikongo in the 100 T11 men’s final, several personal best times were also obtained by some athletes in several events.
“We, the national Paralympic committee, are very happy with the results as the athletes are starting to look good and starting to run good times just before the Rio Paralympic Games in September,” Hamukwaya said in a statement yesterday.
“These results will also give our athletes added confidence, and it was a good opportunity to race against their rivals, as we do not have many competitions for our athletes to compete against the world’s best.
“The team needs all the support it can get from Namibia. I urge the corporate world to get involved with this team as they will reap the results once we get to Rio.
Our wish is to give these athletes one more chance to compete internationally before the Paralympic Games,” Hamukwaya stated.
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