Luhanga wins Special Olympics gold for Malawi

Special Olympics Malawi (SOM) began their campaign on an impressive note at the World Summer Games in Los Angeles, USA on Wednesday when Mussa Luhanga won gold in a 200-metre run.

Luhanga, who made it into the 10-athlete squad from Karonga District, crossed the finish line in 29:55 seconds.

So far, the Malawi team has participated in three events in track and field through Luhanga, Dennis Mologeni from Ntchisi and Miracle Buleya from Chiradzulu. Mologeni finished fourth in 100 metres with 26.37 seconds while Buleya settled for the seventh place in 27 seconds.

As we went to press, Mandela Kalua from Nkhata Bay, Henry Katopola from Blantyre and Desire Namaona from Lilongwe were scheduled to compete in 50 metres race while Clara Phiri from Karonga and Agnes Lekaleka from Mchinji were set to contest in 100 metre runs.

“It has been a good start for us and we hope to win more medals in our next events,” said SOM national coordinator Felix Chisowa, who is also assistant leader of delegation.

At the Games, Malawi is expected to repeat or even surpass their record of three gold medals, the same number of silver decoration and a bronze at the 2011 Games in Greece.

Then, Wakhumbata Gondwe won gold medals in 200 metres and 400 metres while Marita Wyson grabbed gold in womens’s 400 metres. Eunice Ngozo took silver medals in 100-metre race and long jump as Tawina Limbani lifted silver in high jump. Asaile Mwinuka won bronze in 400- metre race.