Namibian athletes with disability raked in 24 medals on day two of the Toyota South African Sports Association for the Physically Disabled (SASAPD) National Championships underway in Cape Town, South Africa.

On the opening day of the championships on Sunday, Team Namibia won two medals in the powerlifting category and added 24 more medals from track and field, swimming and cycling time trials on Monday.

The track and field events medals came from T12 athlete Lahja Ipinge who scooped a gold in the Under-20, 100 metres (m) race and another gold in the 100m by T11 athlete Lahja Ishitile.

In the T11 100m men’s category Namibian athletes dominated the track after occupying all three podium places with Ananias Shikongo winning gold while Chris Kinda and Alfredo Bernado came second and third respectively.

T12, Christopher Marungu won a silver in the 100m after finishing behind South Africa’s Commonwealth Games gold medalist Jonathan Ntuthu.

Johannes Nambala won gold in the T13, 100m while T37 athlete Petrus Karuli took home silver after finishing behind Union Sekailwe of the Western Cape.

In the 100m mix category of T45, T46, and T47 athletes Namibia’s T47 sprinter Bradley Murere won gold despite stumbling at the start of the race. He also won silver in the long jump of the T46, and T47 categories, where he jumped a distance of 5.86m, to finish second behind T46 Collen Nicholas of Gauteng who jumped a distance of 6.35m.

The T44, T61, T62, and T63 open categories saw T44 sprinter Denzel Namene missing out on a medal after finishing fourth but he managed to win a bronze in the long jump event.

Namibian athletes competing under the GAP program also walked away with silver and bronze medals in the 100m T42, and T61 U17. Martha Nengola won silver in the T61 100m while T37 athlete Natascha Kakololo won a bronze. T38 sprinter Rosie Porter from England won the race.

Namibian swimmers and cyclists also raked in medals on Sunday, when Mateus Angula won gold in 50m backstroke, silver in 100m freestyle and bronze in 50m breaststroke. Caitlin Botha won five gold medals while Jeromius Rooi won a gold.

Roodley Gowaseb won gold in the H3 hand-cycling category while his teammate Lukas Ndahangwapo and Nico Kharuxab walked away with silver and bronze respectively. H5 hand cyclist Gabriel Nghiishililwa won gold in the time trial.

Team Namibia travelled with 40 athletes who are competing in para-athletics, para-powerlifting, swimming, para-cycling and goalball.

This year’s edition brings together athletes from nine South African provinces and other Southern African Countries.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency