Para-athletes off to World Games in Portugal
Several athletes from Pretoria are part of a team of para athletes that left South Africa on Wednesday to participate in the International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation World Games.
A team of 17 Para-athletes departed earlier this week to compete at the International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) World Games taking place in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal.
This year marks the 7th edition of the Games which was established to provide international sporting opportunities for athletes with physical impairments. It will host athletes from across the globe in five different sports codes; Archery, Athletics, Swimming, Table Tennis and Para Taekwondo.
The majority of the South African athletes are members of the Is Ability Sport Club, a Pretoria based initiative launched in 2011 to address the need for local sporting opportunities for those living with physical disability.
Pretoria’s Hermanus Blom, current F12 Men’s Discus World Champion and world record holder, is also part of this team.
Since 2011 Is Ability Sport, which recently won ‘Sport Club of the Year for the Physically Disabled’ at the Gauteng Sport Awards, has shown remarkable growth. It has also produced some world class athletes such as fifteen year old Paralympic silver medallist, Ntando Mahlangu.
The team headed for Portugal includes four junior athletes who are beneficiaries of the Jumping Kids Prosthetic Fund. They are Emile Burgers, Megan Croucamp, Kim MacDonald and Puseletso Mabote. Another two team members, Junior Mavuso and Mahlangu, are two of the Fund’s young ambassadors.
Jumping Kids is a non-profit organisation that provides access to prosthetic equipment and rehabilitation to children living with lower limb amputation. Sport is regarded as an important rehabilitation tool and the fund has helped develop many talented young athletes.
“Our vision is to create access, access to prosthetic equipment, but also access to better education and sport. The IWAS Wold Games provides a perfect opportunity for our participating kids and ambassadors to gain international experience on and off the sports field,” said Jumping Kids spokesperson, Michael Stevens.
For more information about the IWAS World Games, Is Ability Sport Club or Jumping Kids, contact Michael Stevens at michael@jumpingkids.org.za or on 083-788-9073.
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