CAPE TOWN – Team South Africa to the 2019 Special Olympics World Games departed South Africa for Abu Dhabi at the beginning of March. The event in the United Arab Emirates is considered as the biggest sporting and humanitarian event in the world.
By Tuesday this week, Team South Africa had already bagged over 30 medals with 2 days of competition to go.
Runner Kamogelo Moncho and swimmer David Coates have taken the lead with a double Gold win each, with a number of their team mates also bringing home double medals.
The South Africans are currently on a tally of 13 Gold, 14 Silver and 12 bronze and is chasing the Team's 15 Gold medal tally reached at the previous Summer World Games in Los Angeles.
South Africa, a team of 71 athletes, is competing against more than 7 500 athletes from over 190 countries. They are competing in football, futsal (five-a-side female soccer), table tennis, equestrian, bocce, open-water swimming, athletics, and golf.
With over 20 medals in the bag from the @SO_SouthAfrica team taking part in the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi, we cannot help but be proud of each and every individual for showing us what it means to #GoFurther! #BackOurTeam pic.twitter.com/zWNBiVv0mE
— Ford South Africa (@FordSouthAfrica) March 18, 2019
Chairman of Special Olympics South Africa, Dr Mathews Phosa, commented earlier today, “Our 2019 Special Olympics South Africa National Team are already on their way to replicating the successes of the previous games and we as a nation are behind them 100%.
We look forward to more wins this week while we are already celebrating the current achievements of our super special team. Join me South Africa as we continue to #BackOurTeam.”
Team South Africa arrives back home on Friday 22nd March 2019 at 10:55am at OR Tambo International and all South Africans are invited to welcome them back.