Immanuel happy to be learning from Shikongo

BERLIN, 29 JUN  – Bernardo ‘The Bullet’ Immanuel, a T11 Para-athlete has expressed his delight about competing in the same track as Paralympic Games medallist Ananias Shikongo.
The young Namibian athlete will compete in the 100 metre (m), 200m and relay team for Namibia at the 2018 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Berlin Grand Prix.
The IPC Berlin Grand Prix, which will be the last of the year, is set for Saturday and Sunday at Berlin’s Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark.
Speaking to Nampa on Wednesday, Immanuel said he is learning a lot on a daily basis from Shikongo and is hopeful that all that he is learning will help him as he grows as an athlete.
“This will be the first time I will compete at a grand prix and my goal is to become a champion and win gold medals for Namibia one day,” he said.
Immanuel, who grew up in the dusty streets of Otavi and won his first international medal in the T11 – 100m at the Under-20 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region Five Games in 2016 in Luanda, Angola, told this agency that he feels the time has come to start writing his name in the Namibian sport history books.
“At the moment, Ananias (Shikongo) is helping me on how to run the different events as well as how to finish a race. I know it will just be a matter of months before I start beating him in the track,” Immanuel jokingly said.
The young athlete said at the moment he is going to use the IPC Berlin Grand Prix as a learning curve for the upcoming AUSC Region Five Games that will be held in Gaborone, Botswana, in December as well as the 2020 Paralympic Games qualifiers.
“I was born to be a champion and I know with time and hard work I will be one. In the journey of becoming a champion, one learns to lose and win but you take all that as a learning step, that is why I am currently not under any pressure ahead of this Berlin Grand Prix,” he said.

NAMPA