Namibia Paralympic Committee team coach for the 2020 Tokyo, Paralympic Games Letu Hamhola says athletes are now well aware that there is no turning back as they are busy with their last preparations.
The 2020 Tokyo, Paralympic Games is scheduled to start on 24 August and end on 06 September 2021, with Team Namibia having three athletes and three guides to compete in track and field events.
In an interview with Nampa on Sunday, Hamhola said arriving at the athlete’s village brought a sense of relief for the athletes as well as the officials.
“There are many protocols that we had to go through, we only managed to see a track today (Sunday) 22 August after being at the last one on 13 August 2021 at home. These are sacrifices we had to make for the course and you know when an athlete walks into the village they know there is no turning back,” he said.
He added that their motto for these games is #KomeshoNamParalympic which means they are going forward because the athletes have taken a lot of commitment, hard work and dedication to prepare for the games.
“From now onwards it’s only positive energy and we will eliminate anything that is not going to take us forward. There are many athletes that dream about this and want to be here and as we are here we carry the hopes of many other Paralympians,” Hamhola said.
The coach added that the most important thing at the moment is that athletes are healthy.
“Once we receive the final confirmed program we will then know how we are going to execute all the phases of the competition because we cannot overlook other stages. The team is ready and we will take it from here as we have already done our homework,” he said.
Team Namibia will start with their activities on Friday, 27 August 2021 when T11 athlete Lahja Ishitile will compete in her first event which is the T11 400 metre (m) heats. She is also expected to compete in the 200m and long jump at the championships.
Other athletes that will also represent Namibia are Ananias Shikongo a T11 athlete and T13 athlete Johannes Nambala. Both the athletes will compete in the 100m and 400m events of their respective categories.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
