By Chisomo Phiri
A 22-year-old Taonele Banda has become the second Malawian para-athlete to qualify for 2024 Paris Paralympics after meeting the qualification time during qualifiers in Morocco on Sunday.
Taonele, has qualified in the 400m T13 category after running 1:07:95, beating the minimum qualification time for this category which is 1:09:00.
She joins Mphatso Saukire, who qualified for the Paris event after an impressive medal winning performance at the 2022 African Union Region Five Youth Games, which the country hosted in Lilongwe.
Speaking in an interview with local media, MPC vice president Joseph Galenje who is also head of technical said he was proud of the two athletes for making it to Paris on merit.
Said Galanje:”given the bottlenecks we met along the way, this is a satisfying result.”
The Paris Paralympics, also known as the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, will take place in Paris, France, from August 28 to September 8, 2024.
The event will feature 22 sports and 23 disciplines, with 549 events and 269 sessions.
