By Barrie Alpha
On the International Day for Sports and Development which was celebrated on 6 April, Sierra Leone’s National Paralympic Committee was recognised as one of the sporting bodies that have won international laurels for the country.
The Sierra Leone Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Authority (NSA) joined the rest of the world to celebrate the International Day of Sports for Development and Peace with the Theme: “Scoring for People and the Planet”.
The event saw different sporting disciplines participating in a sporting exhibition at the beach, which event was climaxed with a sumptuous dinner and an awards night for different sporting associations across the country.
Speaking to nightwatch Sports after receiving the certificate, Alexander Thullah, aka African Teacher, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Paralympics Committee of Sierra Leone (NPC-SLE), said he felt proud of the NPC taking into consideration that they have brought so many laurels to Sierra Leone from 2018 to 2023, lavishing praises on the Ministry of Sports and the NSA for recognising sporting associations that have done extremely well in lifting the ‘Green, White and Blue’ these five years.
‘As Secretary General, I feel very much proud to have received a certificate on behalf of the National Paralympics Committee. From the depth of my heart I have want to say I am very much excited because it’s a very good way of showing recognition for activities we’ve engaged in the past years, even though it didn’t come that early, but it has been a very good one because these are things that give motivation not only just to the executive but to the athletes themselves to do more in bringing laurels to the country. It’s a very good one; I must say thanks to the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Authority for being able to recognise us and I believe we will do more to ensure that we bring more laurels to the country,’ the CEO noted.
He further revealed that they are preparing for the African Paralympics Games in Ghana in September this year and for the 2024 Paralympics Games in France. ‘Ghana will be the stepping stone because it is based on the performance we shall be will be putting up there, we will have the opportunity to go to France. We would do our best with our athletes to ensure we have a qualification spot in the next Paralympics Games in France,’ he stated.
‘On behalf of the executive of the National Paralympics Committee of Sierra Leone and the all the athletes we have, those that have represented Sierra Leone and those that are still waiting for the opportunity to be given to them to represent this country, I want to say thank you everybody especially to those that have contributed in ensuring that we have a wonderful certification ceremony for association that have performed well since 2018 to 2023,’ Thullah concluded.