The Mandela Sensation
The Mandela sensation is full of the arena as a Chinese song written on the Mandela spirit by the famous local Band Beyond is periodically played. The song was once translated in English at the request of Mandela a few years back, and he was full tears when reading it.
The feeling was like meeting an old friend when I first met the Team Leader cum Coach Vukile MKHALA of South Africa at the Team Meeting of the 2013 INAS World Table Tennis Championships held on 12 December.
The name of South Africa came to me very often recently, probably because of the death of one of the greatest man of the century Nelson Mandela and the many stories and legacy of him.
My first greeting to Vukile was, how did he feel of losing such a great man in South Africa ? His reply could rather been seen from his facial expression, turning from smile to stern, with tears in his eyes. He said everyone in South Africa loved him and was sad to have lost him.
Only when I told him that the burial ceremony of Mandela could be seen via television in hotel later to-day that he was seen to have a relief.
The South African Team
Two players, one male player Xolisa MELESE and the other female player Siphe DLINGCA compete in Singles as well as in Mixed Doubles. They are accompanied by three staff.
What a strange trip to Hong Kong
The PTT African Championships is taking place in Egypt from 14th-20th December and this is an important event for nations in Africa, as the Champions will automatically qualify for the ITTF PTT World Championships to be held in 2014.
When asked why South Africa chose to compete in the INAS World Championships in Hong Kong and not in Egypt, Vukile was given a shock to hear that information as according to him, no one in the South African Table Tennis Board (SATTB), the governing organization for table tennis in South Africa, was aware of the Regional Championships ! Probably the event was confirmed only recently.
The First Funding Support from the Government
The other reason may be, the South Africa government has just started to fund teams for international events and the first event approved for ID players is the INAS World Championships, and the approval was quite some months ago.
Only 4 were approved for funding; 2 players, one Manager and one Coach while the other one had to pay her own expenses.
Development of Para Table Tennis in South Africa
The only annual tournament for people with Intellectual Disability is the Inter-special School League organized by the South Africa Sports Association for Intellectually Impaired (SASAII). No events will be for those above the age of 21 when they leave schools.
There is no formal training programs for people with Disabilities, told by the Team Leader who is in fact an International Umpire as from 2009. He has started helping that year, later also as an amateur coach as well, as no one was doing the work.
Goal for the Future
There are only one representative each for the Physically Disabled and the Intellectual Disabled in the South African Table Tennis Board. There are only 3 qualified coaches, of ITTF Level 2 in the whole country and they have no time for players with Disability. Vukile told me that they had the service of one of the coaches for one month before they came to the World Championships.
He expressed that they are in need of more coaching training, before they can really launch a national wide training program for people with Disabilities in the country.
Yet they are still optimistic to have players qualified for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.
Their goal is therefore to train hard to be the top in Africa !
Photographs
1.The South Africa Team at the Opening, Vukile MKHALA was second from left;
2.Top best player in Team event, Garip OLCA of Turkey in action;
3.Player Kemal GAYFULLIN of Russia in action
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