Yohana Assa Mwila, who lost his right leg in 1988 due to a bite from a highly poisonous snake, says nothing will stop him from putting Tanzania on the global para powerlifting map.
DAR ES SALAAM, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Yohana Assa Mwila, a man who lost his right leg in 1988 through a bite from a highly poisonous snake, said nothing will stop him from putting Tanzania on the global para powerlifting map.
Mwila, 38, is a para powerlifter who has qualified to represent Tanzania in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in England that will see around 4,500 athletes from 72 nations and territories compete in 19 sports and eight para-sports across 15 competition venues from July 28 to August 8.
Para powerlifting is one of the sports to be contested at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the sixth staging of para powerlifting at the Commonwealth Games since its inclusion in 2002.
Yohana Assa Mwila (Front), a para powerlifter, prepares for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on July 18, 2022. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)
"My right leg was amputated after I was bitten by a highly poisonous snake. I still remember that I was bitten by the snake on Friday and by Monday my leg had started to decompose from my knee downwards when doctors opted to amputate the leg," said the father of two children.
He said the amputation was not the end of his life when in March 2019 he decided to train in para powerlifting following advice from his coach, 55-year-old Nemes Albert Chiwalala.
"Before the coach had convinced me to train in para powerlifting I was doing shot put, a track-and-field event in which athletes try to throw a heavy ball as far as they can," said the para athlete who is expected to leave on Saturday for Birmingham.
Mwila, a secondhand shoes vendor at the hectic Kariakoo market and rider of a tricycle for hire, said he trains at the Ada Estates Fitness Center in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, four times a week with each training session lasting two hours.
Yohana Assa Mwila, a para powerlifter, prepares for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on July 18, 2022. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)
In addition, Mwila thanked the Chinese embassy for its recent donation of computers and laptops to the Tanzania Paralympic Committee, saying the donation has come at the right time.
"The laptops and computers will help us to access the internet in communicating with sports bodies across the world. We used to wait for the boss to use his private laptop to access the internet. That is now history, thanks to the Chinese embassy in Tanzania for the donation," said Mwila.
He added that it will also be easy to access the website of the Tanzania Paralympic Committee, boosting their participation in the All African Games in Ghana in 2023 and the 2024 Paralympic Games to be held in France.
Chiwalala, Mwila's coach, said he started training para powerlifting in 2000, adding that two para athletes he had trained qualified and participated in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England.
"I am optimistic that Mwila will do wonders in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games," said Chiwalala, a father of three children, who also engages in business and farming. ■
