T11 sprinter Ananias Shikongo qualified to the final of the men’s T11 400 metre (m) final after finishing first in his heat at the 2020 Paralympic Games.

Shikongo who last won a bronze medal in the 400m at the 2016 Rio, Paralympic Games in Brazil beat Eduardo Manuel Uceda Novas of Spain and Daniel Mendes da Silva of Brazil to the line.

Da Silva was later on disqualified from the race for a rules infringement.

The Namibian sprinter clocked the second-fastest time of 51.22 seconds which was also his personal best. Gerard Descarrega Puigdevall from Spain clocked the fastest times in the heats when he won heat one with a time of 50.60 seconds.

In an interview after the race, Africa’s fastest blind man in sprint said he was happy to reach the final because that was his gift to his coach Letu Hamholo who is celebrating his birthday on the same day.

“I feel a bit tired after the race because I had to push myself very hard and the muscles are now cramping because I did not have a lot of competitions throughout the year,” he said.

Shikongo added that his goal for the final is to try and win a medal for the country but it will not be a walk in a park.

“I am really happy we made it to the final but the competition was tough we had to get out of our plans for the day for us to get this victory which now took a lot from me but I am confident by tomorrow I will be ready to go again,” said Shikongo who called on the Namibian people to start investing more in sports so that they can also start competing at International Paralympic Committees Grand Prix which are more competitive for them as athletes with disabilities.

Shikongo will compete in the final of the T11 400m at 12h35 Namibian Time while Johannes Nambala will start with his competitions at the Tokyo, Paralympic Games on Sunday.

He will compete in the heats of the T13, 100m at 05h42 in the morning.

Source: Namibia Press Agency