We want to venture into other sports disciplines – Hamukwaya – New Era

Michael Hamukwaya, the secretary general of the Namibia Paralympic Committee (NPC), said the aim of the upcoming wheelchair tennis development clinic is to provide opportunities for para-athletes.

NPC, together with the Namibia Tennis Association (NTA), will host a training camp in the capital from 21 to 23 February to provide more insight into the sport of tennis. The training will be conducted by an expert from South Africa and NTA coaches. Currently, the NPC only has popular sport codes such as athletics, swimming and powerlifting. This clinic will provide para-athletes with a wider range of sports to choose from.

“For the past few years, we have only focused on three prominent sport codes. I know we also have 3×3 basketball, but we haven’t pursued it further. We know not all para-athletes will thrive competing in athletics or powerlifting, so we opted to venture into other sport codes such as tennis,” he said.

He expressed hope that the clinic will yield fruitful outcomes, including affiliation with the local tennis governing body. “These types of sport codes receive funding through international bodies, and for our para-athletes to benefit, we need to be affiliated with the NTA, which we hope to achieve after this weekend’s training,” he said.

Meanwhile, Johan Theron of the NTA said it is a great initiative, and he is happy that the two federations have joined hands to work together for the sake of sport development and the benefit of the athletes.

“We mostly do what we do to either develop the sport, or groom athletes. Just imagine how many aspiring tennis players will benefit from this initiative. More coaches will emerge, and future stars will be discovered. I am just glad that they approached us, and we are more than happy to get things started,” he said. 

– mkambukwe@nepc.com.na

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