By Edwin Mbewe
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi Paralympic Committee on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 is expected to send five visually impaired athletes to Venice Italy to take part in this year’s Jesolo Grand Prix tournament slated from May 11 to 14.
The five athletes including Mphatso Saukira, Estere Nagoli who won Gold and Silver medals respectively at Bingu National Stadium in December 2022 during the recent Region 5 Youth Games.
The other three are Taonga Kamwendo who won Gold medal in Maseru, Lesotho in 2021 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth games, Puwa Alinafe and George Kazembe.
The athletes are anticipated to compete in different categories, such as 400m T12w, 200m T12 w, 1500m T13M,400m T13w.
The General Secretary of the committee Memory Baluwa disclosed that the athletes will to leave the country on Wednesday at 15:00 hours through Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) via Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Rome then connect to Venice.
Baluwa said the tournament gives the athletes a platform to showcase their talents at a major event ever participated by five athletes from Malawi.
Baluwa added that the committee is upbeat of athletes bringing medals to Malawi.
“They have prepared for almost two weeks and monitored by coaches in Lilongwe, we believe they are ready to go and win the race. We also believe that they will be going to adjust the current time they have”, said Baluwa.
The tournament in Venice Italy, are the qualifiers for the 2024 Paris, France Paralympic games which Baluwa said, they believe the five athletes will secure some adorable slots by the end of the event.
