By Duncan Mlanjira
Team Malawi have brought back 13 medals at the first-ever Pan African Special Olympic Games in Cairo, Egypt.
They were 7 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze from the 100m, 200m, 800m relay and 1500 categories they participated in.
The athletes are Agnes Lekaleka, Clara Phiri, Wema Supuliano, Phillies Supuliano and Desire Namaona. Agnes got 3 gold medals while Desire won a gold medal and a silver.
Wemma won silver in 1500 metres while Agnes, Clara, Phyllies and Wemma won gold in 4×400 relay
The Malawi athletes in action in Egypt
Clara came second to Agnes to earn silver while Phillies came third in same category to earn bronze.
According Daily News Egypt, over 800 athletes from 42 African countries participated in four most-played Para sports — football, basketball, bocce and athletics.
Most of the events acted as qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, set to be held between August 25 and September 6.
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Processors
The Games coincided with the end of Egypt’s presidency of the African Union (AU) which reflected the country’s increasing support to the people with disabilities in the continent.
For the first time ever in the history of Special Olympics, the Pan African Games achieved full gender equality, with 50-50 participation from both male and female athletes.
In a continent where women and girls are often held back from participating fully in sports and achieving their total potential, Special Olympics Africa wants this effort to accelerate national commitments for fully inclusive societies.
Meanwhile, Rwanda will host the second edition of the Special Olympics Pan Africa Games in 2022.
Pastor Dues Sangwa, chairman of Rwanda Special Olympics, is quoted by Times Sport as saying the endorsement to host the Games is a great vote of confidence to their country.
“Hosting the games will boost the development of sports and athletes with intellectual disability in Rwanda and all over Africa. We are confident it will be a big success,” Sangwa is quoted as saying.