Team SA aims for glory with five-strong squad at World Para Athletics Championships

South Africa is sending five athletes to the New Delhi 2025 World Para Athletics Championships, which will take place from September 27 to October 5.

Simoné Kruger, Liezel Gouws, Sheryl James, Collen Mahlalela, and Puseletso Mabote will represent the country at the 12th edition of the World Para Athletics Championships, which is set to be the largest Para sport event ever held in India.

The Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium will host over 1,000 athletes. The competition program will feature 186 medal events—101 for men, 84 for women, and one mixed event—which is 15 more than the last edition of the championships in Kobe, Japan.

Asia has hosted the World Championships on four previous occasions: Doha 2015 in Qatar, Dubai 2019 in the United Arab Emirates, and Kobe 2024 in Japan.

TEAM SA ATHLETES

SIMONÉ KRUGER

The Paralympic gold medalist is a consistent top performer in discus and shot put, often setting new records or personal bests. In May 2024, she won South Africa's second gold medal and broke the world record in the women's discus with a throw of 38.82m at the Kobe 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Japan. At the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, Kruger competed in the Women's F38 discus, where she broke the Paralympic Record and won South Africa's second gold medal with a throw of 38.70m.

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LIEZEL GOUWS

Liezel Gouws won Team SA’s first medal, a bronze, at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships. Gouws made her international debut in 2013 and went on to break the world record in the 800m T37 women’s competition in both 2015 and 2018. T37 is a disability sport classification for track and field events for athletes with coordination impairments such as hypertonia, ataxia, and athetosis.

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SHERYL JAMES

Sheryl James won a silver and a bronze medal at the Dubai 2024 World Para Athletics Grand Prix. The Paralympian, who took up sprinting at the age of 32, won a bronze medal in the women's 400m T37 at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, which was Team SA's fifth medal.

READ: Sheryl James always giving her best winning two medals in Dubai

COLLEN MAHLALELA

Collen Mahlalela began his Para sports career in 2021 and debuted at his first World Championships in 2024 in Kobe, Japan, where he won a silver medal in the 400m T47. The Paralympian, who hails from the village of Mthatha in Enkomazi, Mpumalanga, also competed at the Dubai 2024 World Para Athletics Grand Prix, where he bagged a silver in the men’s 400m and a bronze in the men’s long jump T47. T47 is a disability sport classification for athletics, primarily for competitors with an amputation or impairment below the elbow or wrist.

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PUSELETSO MABOTE

Puseletso Mabote set a new world record in the men’s 200m T63 final at the 2019 World Para Athletics Junior Championships. At his debut at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021, he set the men’s 100m T63 African record and a new personal best time of 12.64. Mabote won silver for South Africa in the men’s 100m T63 final at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships and set a new African record in the long jump. T63 is for runners with movement that is moderately affected in one leg or who have the absence of limbs above the knee.

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