Raphael Botsyo Nkegbe qualifies for Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

Ghanaian para-athlete, Raphael Botsyo Nkegbe has won the T54 World Wheelchair 100m race at the Desert Challenge Games, in Arizona. This means an automatic qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The Desert Challenge Games are a multi-day competition for individuals aged 6 through adulthood with a physical, visual or intellectual disability. The 2019 event will be part of the World Para Athletics Grand Prix.

Nkegbe is the first para-athlete in Ghana to qualify to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games in Japan. He needed a time of 14:70 to Qualify for the tokyo2020 paralympic games and he has made 14:22 breaking his personal best time of 14:62.

Nkegbe qualifies to the world championship with his up and coming to athlete Maclean Atsu Dzidzienyo who made a time of 16:44secs in the men’s T53 class.

T54 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics in the track and jump events. The class includes people with spinal cord injuries who compete using a wheelchair in track events. They have paraplegia, but have normal hand and arm function, normal or limited trunk function, and no leg function.