Paralympians Wawira, Chelang’at among nominees for SOYA Sportswoman Living with Disability Award
With 14 days to the 19th edition of the SOYA Gala slated for 20th January, 2023, at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Paralympian Nancy Chelang’at with an apparent insatiable appetite for success in 2022, maintained her dogged campaign to clinch gold in the T11 400m race in 1.04.25 seconds guided by her brother Geoffrey Rotich during the 2022 World Para athletics grand prix and 13th Fazza International Championship in Dubai.
Her peer in the world of Para-lifting, Hellen Wawira, after winning a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, also continues to wield a strong case for the Sportswoman Living with a Disability award.
Wawira who won a gold medal in the world para powerlifting championship in St. Louis, USA with a scintillating lift of 98kg, proceeded to the Commonwealth games in Birmingham where she racked up the bronze medal in the women’s lightweight competition with a best lift of 97kg. The 2022 SOYA awards which is sponsored by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Safaricom PLC, Lotto Foundation and Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC), promises to be a tough fight for the top prize going by the list of nominees that have been shortlisted for the Sportswoman Living with a Disability category.
Nancy Chelagat - the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics bronze medalist - also won silver in the T11 1500m race won by Mary Waithera in a Kenyan podium sweep with Nelly Nasimiyu taking bronze.
Also, in the nomination list looking to win the coveted award, are the Deaflympics athletics trio of Beryl Wamira, Linnet Nanjala and Serah Wangari.
Wamira clinched silver in the 4x400m Relay and 4x400m mixed Relay at the Caxias Do Sul Deaflympics and settled for bronze in the 4x100m Relay and 200m at the same event.
Nanjala chalked up a silver medal in the 4x400m Relay and 4x400m mixed Relay in Caxius Do Sul.
Wangari, on the other hand, took the 10,000m silver in Brazil opening Kenya’s medal account before clinching bronze in Steeplechase.
It will be interesting to know who among the five will be crowned the sportswoman living with a disability heroine at the prestigious SOYA gala that will fete the 2022 achievers.
