T13 sprinter and 2016 Paralympic Games silver medallist Johannes Nambala qualified to the finals of the 100 metre (m) sprint after winning his heat on Sunday morning at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

The Namibian sprinter won heat three with a time of 11.03 seconds beating Jean Carlos Mina Aponza of Colombia who came in second place with a time of 11.08 seconds.

Nambala’s 11.03 seconds was his seasonal best.

In an interview with Nampa, Namibia Paralympic Committee, Secretary-General Michael Hamukwaya said Namibia has good athletes but lack of competition is something affecting their performance most of the time.

“We are now having two athletes that will compete in the finals today. We looking forward to the finals because anything is possible,” he said.

The Secretary General added that Nambala on paper is not the fastest sprinter going into the final but he is a warrior and will do everything in his power to fly his national flag high.

“What we really lack as a country is international competition participation where these athletes can compete with the best in the world because if you look at the times ran today Nambala even though he won his race, it was the slowest compared to heat one that was won by the Algerian Skander Djamil Athmani and heat two that was won by Jason Symth of Ireland,” he said adding that what needs to happen is Namibian athletes competing at least in three International competitions.

In the heat, Athmani ran the fastest time of 10.59 seconds while Symth ran 10.78 seconds in heat two.

The final of the T13 100m will be at 12h53 Namibian time while Ananias Shikongo will compete earlier in the T11 400m final at 19h35.

Source: Namibia Press Agency