By Alpha Barrie
The President of the Sierra Leone National Paralympics Committee (SLE-NPC), Unisa Deen Kargbo (UDK), has expressed that he was impressed by the remarkable performances demonstrated by Para athletes at the recent GAPS training and competitions.
Polio Para-Powerlifter Arnold Sheka Kamara and one arm female Para-Table Tennis player Rashidatu Mabinty Sesay represented Sierra Leone in the just concluded GAPS training and competitions held in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Sierra Leone’s disabled Para Powerlifter Arnold Sheka Kamara finished second in the GAPS Para lifting competition, which was organised by the British Weightlifting Federation.
Over one hundred young and aspiring athletes were invited for a GAPS training camp for Para lifting and Table Tennis players. The training was concluded with a competition to access the level of the athletes. At the same time the competition was a qualification pathway. Arnold who is on the road to the Paris 2024 games came out strong.
He competed in the -72kg group against Lehlohnolo Mahobe from Lesotho, Kamenya Matlas Kapum from Namibia and Findlay Davidson from Scotland, and it was highly competitive. Arnold did not yield to any threats. His first clean lift was 100kg. The second was 104kg. His third attempt of 110kg was not successful. At the end of the competition the Scot, Finley took gold with a total grade of 245kg. Arold made a total grade of 204kg.
In the Para Table Tennis, the single armed female player Rashidatu Mabinty Sesay also finished second in the PTT4 Class.
She competed against players from Namibia, Lesotho and Pakistan. In her first match, she defeated her opponent from Lesotho by 12- 6 and then won against Pakistan by 12- 5. She lost the final match to the experienced player from Namibia who had also won the previous two matches, by 12 – 8. Rashidatu finished in second position behind her Namibian counterpart.
According to UDK, both Kamara and Sesay were impressive and both competitions were qualification pathways, expressing optimism to secure qualifications for the 2024 Paris Paralympics Games in August.
He furthered that it is now up to the organisers who determine the qualifiers, but as far as he is concerned, both Arnold Sheka Kamara and Rashidatu Mabinty Sesay put up an impressive performance.
‘They put on remarkable performances in both the training and the competition. Arnold did very well although he did not finish in the first position, while Rashidatu put up a brave performance. So we are now waiting on the organisers to determine who the qualifiers for the Paralympics Games in Paris are. As far as I am concerned, their performances are very impressive,’ the Team Leader noted.
