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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
KHAMI district’s preparations for the provincial Zimbabwe National Paralympics Games received a major boost following their partnership with Plan International.

The district will today stage its intra-district competitions at Robert Sinyoka Primary School on the outskirts of Bulawayo where a district team will also be selected.

“We are proud to announce that we now have a special partnership with Plan International as Khami district through the Sports and Recreation Commission.

“Plan International will chip in with reasonable resources beginning with our district competitions this Friday (today) and this is by design not default because their mandate of operation begins in the Khami district going to Tsholotsho,” said the Bulawayo SRC sports co-ordinator Sam Dzvimbu.

The Paralympic Games were inaugurated in Bulawayo in 2008 with just four provinces taking part, but all the country’s 10 provinces have come on board since 2009.

Paralympic athletes are classified into four categories — the visually impaired, intellectually challenged, hearing impaired and the physically challenged.

Intellectually challenged athletes compete in athletics and five-a-side soccer, while those with hearing impairment compete in conventional soccer for boys and netball for girls.

The physically disabled, who are mainly amputees, will compete in wheelchair basketball and tennis. Visually impaired athletes will also compete in goalball.

Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for visually impaired athletes. It was originally devised in 1946 by the Austrian Hanz Lorenzen and German Sepp Reindle as a means of assisting the rehabilitation of visually impaired World War II veterans.

Participants compete in teams of three and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it into the opponents’ goal.

Teams alternate throwing or rolling the ball from one end of the playing area to the other, and players remain in the area of their own goal in both defence and attack.

Players must use the sound of the bell to judge the position and movement of the ball.

Games consist of two 12-minute halves. Eyeshades allow partially sighted players to compete on an equal footing with blind players.

Eye patches may be worn under eyeshades to ensure complete coverage of the eye, and prevent any vision should the eyeshades become dislodged.

This year’s national Paralympics Games will be held in Bindura from April 7-11 and a budget of $750 000 has been proposed, while each athlete is expected to pay an affiliation fee of $50.

— @skhumoyo2000.