Paralympic Committee to launch new sportAthletes excited about boccia The Namibia Paralympic Committee is introducing a new competitive sport for wheelchair athletes. The Namibia National Paralympic Committee (NNPC) will launch a new sport in Namibia on 2 December.Boccia, which means “ball” in Latin, is a sport for people with cerebral palsy or related neurological conditions requiring the use of a wheelchair.
Memory Kahlari of the NNPC told Nampa that boccia is a competitive sport that is played in over 50 countries.
“The sport is played on a hard surface indoors and the goal is to throw the game balls so that they land as close as possible to a special target ball, which is called the jack,” she said.
Players must be at least 12 years old to play in singles, doubles or teams of three or four players.
One of the six athletes in Namibia who have shown interest in the sport is Lihandra van der Smit. She has been playing the game for the past five years.
“It is a tactical sport just like chess and from what I have seen in Namibia, there is a potential to win medals at the Paralympic Games. I have already spotted one player that I would like to be paired with when we play, so that come Tokyo 2020, we can go there and win some medals.”
Van der Smit is a Namibian who has competed in South Africa and won a gold medal during her schooldays.
The 29-year-old initially struggled to find opponents and partners in Namibia until early this year, when she met 12-year-old boccia player Andreas Shoombe.
Shoombe has taken to the sport so quickly that his trainers are already predicting medals very soon.
“I like the sport as it challenges me. I enjoy playing it and I am calling all parents with children or relatives with cerebral palsy to bring them over so they can try it. Who knows, we may have a lot of champions like Ananias Shikongo,” Shoombe said enthusiastically.
Boccia players are assigned to one of four sport classes, depending on their functional ability.
Classification of players in Namibia will take place in Windhoek at a venue to be announced at the launch in December.
NAMPA