By Sam Metiaki
Gabriel Magu will be headlining team Kenya in the upcoming para-power lifting World Cup championship in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The World Cup is the last qualifying round for para-powerlifters for the 2024 Paris para-Olympics scheduled to kick off on August 28 to 8th September 2024 in the French capital Paris.
The 2016 Rio Paralympian will lead a team of 4 powerlifters to a week-long event in Georgia.
The team also includes Hellen Wawira, a lightweight bronze medalist from the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Jeremiah Ngugi, and Joyce Njuguna.
Hellen Wawira will be competing in the women’s category lifting 41kgs while Gabriel Magu will be competing in the men’s category lifting 72kgs.
Jeremiah Ngugi and Joyce Njuguna will be eyeing their first Paralympics title in the Tbilisi event.
The team captain Magu will be eyeing his 2nd Paralympics medal after winning silver at the American para power-lifting championships in 2018.
The Kenya national Paralympic committee chair Stanley Murimi disclosed that those winning medals at the Tbilisi championship will get a direct ticket to the Paris summer game.
So far, seven Kenyans have qualified for the 2024 Paris para-lympics.
They include Kennedy Ogada in para-cycling, Asiya Sururu-para-rowing, Stacy Neema and Julieta Moipo in the taekwondo category.