The Namibia Sports Commission in collaboration with the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service on Wednesday rewarded athletes in recognition for their participation in international competitions between 2022 and 31 July 2023.
According to the chief administrative officer of the NSC, Freddy Mwiya, N$1 045 000 was made available by the ministry of sport to reward the 2022 Commonwealth Games team with N$260 000; the 2023 Special Olympics team with N$275 000; the 2023 Para Paris World Championships team with N$410 000 and the 2023 African Beach Games team with N$100 000.
“It is a big achievement and we appreciate the efforts of the line ministry for delivering,” Mwiya said.
He also highlighted that they had experienced some challenges.
“We understand that the waiting period has been long, however, it is better to be late than never and we will work around this challenge with our line ministry in future to ensure that our athletes are rewarded in the shortest possible time,” he said.
During the breakdown of the amount Mwiya noted that athletes, coaches, officials and specifically guides that attended the 2023 Para World Championship will also will be rewarded.
“If you look carefully at the reward policy of 2018 there was no provision for the guides, but we took it upon ourselves within the ministry to rectify the situation and a decision was taken that a guide is equal to an athlete, because without them an athlete cannot be able to achieve a medal,” Mwiya explained.
Some representatives from various sports codes were present and expressed their appreciation.
“We are very grateful to the ministry because we can do a lot with this reward,” said Issaskar Bock from Athletics Namibia.
Carl van der Merwe of the Namibia Karate Federation said the funds will help the athletes.
“We know how hard our participants work, so this will help them because the financial cost of participating is very expensive,” he said.
The marketing and public relations officer of the NSC, Chalo Chainda said that federations that participate at events outside the country always need to apply for national colours.
“We are not there to police individuals, but they need to apply for national colours, because when it comes to the rewards if you don’t apply you are denying your athletes the opportunity to get the reward that they deserve,” he said.
