Para Athletics Championship starts January

The inaugural Para Athletics Championship rolls into action in January 2017 with national qualifiers in the Southern Region.

Joseph Galanje, chairperson Para Athletics Committee, said this during the launch of the competition at Montfort Special Needs Education College (MSNEC) in Chiradzulu on Saturday.

“We are yet to identify the actual venues of the competition but the South will conduct its national qualifiers between January and February. The Centre will follow between February and March while the North will do it between May and June. Each region will contribute their top-10 athletes to the national finals in August 2017,” Galanje said.

Nevertheless, Malawi Paralympic Committee (MPC) president James Chiutsi said they will first train Para Athletics coaches, athletes’ managers and athletes’ classifiers this month.

He said identification exercise for disabled athletes in selected rural and urban areas in T11, T12 and T13 category track events will be held next month.

MSNEC principal Lucy Magagula pleaded with parents and guardians not to lock their disabled children indoors but let them get involved in sports because physical exercises are essential to mental and physical growth.

Malawi National Council of Sports board member Khrishna Achuthan commended MPC for the initiative and promised the Council’s commitment to offering technical, moral and financial support to disability sports. n