Wheelchair tennis players off to Paralympics
Team Wheelchair Tennis SA is set to bring back home medals.
THE wheelchair tennis players who will be representing South Africa at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro are on a quest to rake in a few medals.
The teams will be leaving this week to settle down in the Olympic City before competing with the rest of the world.
Wheelchair Tennis South Africa (WTSA) held an official farewell ceremony in Johannesburg on Tuesday, August 16.
The country’s four wheelchair tennis players are first-time qualifier Leon Els, who is primed for the challenge, and he will join three-time Paralympian wheelchair tennis ace Kgothatso ‘KG’ Montjane, two-time Grand Slam champion Lucas Sithole and London 2012 Paralympian Evans Maripa in Mzansi’s wheelchair tennis team for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games which forms part of the star-studded team announced by SASCOC last month.
Hailing from the North West, Els has taken a different path to get to his first Paralympic Games, but is already enjoying everything Rio 2016 will offer. “This is a great opportunity for me, I am very excited and will give it my all in Brazil,” said the world number 36.
The 30-year-old Montjane, who recently clinched the Belgian Open women’s doubles with her Colombian partner Angelica Bernal, is striving for a personal best in her third Paralympic Games. “It’s been quite an intense few years of preparation, I had good and bad moments but lots of good moments to cherish too because ‘If it doesn’t challenge me, it doesn’t change me’. I’m ready for Rio”, said the tenth-ranked Montjane.
Bold, ambitious and optimistic, Maripa from Limpopo – who was born with a congenital birth defect – a double amputee below the knees, is ready to achieve the dreams he had when he joined wheelchair tennis 12 years ago.
“I want to see myself on the podium singing my national anthem, I know it is not going to be easy because I will be up against the world’s best wheelchair tennis players. I have nothing to lose, so I am just going to play my game. But I want to make history in Rio,” said Maripa.
“We are exceptionally proud of our team as they head to Rio and compete with top athletes from across the globe. We know they will do us proud,” said Wheelchair Tennis SA general manager Karen Losch.
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