Disability club athletes earn 11 medals

Kwa-Thema – The Kwa-Thema Disability Club athletes did well in the Toyota South Africa Sports Association for the Physically Disabled (SASAPD) National Championships in Bloemfontein from March 21 to 25.

Fourteen athletes from the club represented Gauteng in the championships and earned 11 medals. Two athletes, Siphesihle Mabhena and Collen Mahlalela, broke SA records.

The medal winners:
• Mabhena participated in the javelin and shot put and won two golds. He broke the javelin record at 18.10m and again at 19.28m

• Mahlalela participated in the 400m and long jump and won two golds. He also bagged an SA record standard in the 400m with a time of 50:9 seconds.

• Dimakatso Letageng participated in the shot put, long jump and javelin and earned bronze, silver and gold medals.

• Ntando Sithole bagged three medals in the 100m, shot put and discus.

• Reneilwe Magashule, disqualified for arriving late at the shot put, won a gold medal in the javelin.

Club chairperson and para-athletics coach Aubrey Mathibela said, “I am happy, they performed well. I had hoped all the athletes would return with the record standard, but that didn’t happen.”

He also thanked the Kwa-Thema community and the athletes’ parents for supporting the club.

Additional thanks went to Jabu Kubheka and Willy Msomi for sponsoring the team and the sports department for providing the athletes with sneakers. Siphesihle Mabhena (15) said he is happy with his and wants to continue playing sports.