Team Namibia arrives in Berlin ahead of IPC Grand Prix

WINDHOEK, 26 JUNE – Namibia Paralympic Committee (NPC) athletes arrived in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Grand Prix.
The IPC Berlin Grand Prix, which will be the last of the year, will be hosted from 30 June to 01 July at Berlin’s Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark.
The team, which travelled from Windhoek on Monday consists of Dian Jansen F44 (Shot put, discus and javelin), Bernardo Immanuel T11 (100m, 200m and relay), Bradley Murere T46 (100m and 200m) Kinda Chris T12 (200m, 400m and relay), and Christoph Marungu T12 (100m, 200m and 400m).
The guides are David Ndeilenga (Immanuel) and Enock Kawiwi (Chris). Coach Barbara Fernandez also travelled with the team on Tuesday.
Other team members who arrived earlier from the Netherlands, where they attended a one-week training session, are; Ananias Shikongo who will compete in the T11 (100m, 200m and 400m), Johannes Nambala T13 (100m, 200m and 400m), and guide Even Tjivivi (for Shikongo).
Michael Hamukwaya, who will serve as the team manager also travelled to Germany with the group from the Netherlands.
Speaking to Nampa after the team’s arrival on Tuesday, Hamukwaya, who is also NPC secretary-general, said their aim is to continue flying the Namibian flag high.
“On Thursday we will continue with training in the morning, while some of the new athletes will undergo their international classification on Thursday and Friday afternoon,” he said.
He added that they brought in new athletes as part of the NPC process of grooming new elite athletes for the All-Africa Games as well as to build a team for the World Athletic Championships, which will all be hosted next year.
“Whatever team we are currently busy building is leading up to a stronger team that will represent the country at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. We want to expose these young athletes to international competition so they understand how things work at an international or world stage,” Hamukwaya said.
NAMPA