By Ntokozo Magongo
MBABANE – The OlympAfrica Sports Centre will come alive on August 24, 2024 when it plays host to the Paralympic Games.
There are over 10 sporting codes that would be played on the day including athletics, boxing, taekwondo, soccer, tennis and wheelchair basketball among others. Eswatini Paralympics Committee (EPC) Chairman Mcebo Dludlu announced on Tuesday.
“We are inviting all people with disabilities in the country to come in their numbers on the day to enjoy almost all the sporting codes. This will give them the chance of selecting the sporting codes that they love and that they want to compete in,” he said.
Dludlu said they had also invited the different sporting codes under the Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA) and the Eswatini Sport and Recreation Council (ESRC).
EPC) is registered as an autonomous organisation, with activities linked to the promotion of Paralympics Sport and a Constitution which is in compliance with the vision, aims, objects, purposes and goals of the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) Constitution and of the African Paralympics Committee (APC) Constitution.
Dludlu invited some companies to partner with them in terms of sponsorships.
Dludlu said they had identified two Tinkhundla Centres, being Lobamba and Sithobelweni, to stage the pilot program because they have sports centres. He said they will start with Lobamba before going to Sithobelweni where they continue promoting parasport participation through out the country, providing equipment and facilities that are parasport friendly.
Eswatini is currently not represented in the Paralympics Games currently on going along side the Olympics Games in Paris, France. The country is only represented in the Olympics games by swimmers Hayley Hoy, Chadd Ning and athlete Sibusiso ‘Swazi Bolt’ Matsenjwa.
