{"id":43411,"date":"2024-01-03T17:49:54","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T17:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/ugandan-teen-paralympian-enjoys-busting-stereotypes-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-03T17:49:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T17:49:54","slug":"ugandan-teen-paralympian-enjoys-busting-stereotypes-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/ugandan-teen-paralympian-enjoys-busting-stereotypes-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Ugandan teen Paralympian enjoys busting stereotypes | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nKAMPALA:
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At just 14 she was the youngest Paralympian at the Tokyo Games. And Ugandan swimmer Husnah Kukundakwe faces an equally tough test next year in Paris, but the 16-year-old said she is used to smashing stereotypes — starting with her own mum.<\/p>\n

Born without her right forearm and with an impairment to her left hand, Kukundakwe was three years old when she began paddling in a pool in her local kindergarten.<\/p>\n

“I would just go there, play around, just beat around the water, and I felt nice. I love being in the water,” she said.<\/p>\n

Her mother, however, wasn’t so enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

“In the beginning my mum wasn’t supportive… because she was worried that I won’t be able to swim,” Kukundakwe told AFP.<\/p>\n

“After realising I wasn’t going to stop going into the water, she eventually gave in,” Kukundakwe said on the sidelines of a training session in a suburb of Uganda’s capital Kampala.<\/p>\n

She soon won her first contest, aged nine, racing past able-bodied swimmers.<\/p>\n

“It opened my mum’s eyes that I would do better,” she said, her face lighting up as she recalled the victory.<\/p>\n

Her mother, Hashima Patience Batamuriza, who is now her manager, allowed her to stop using flotation vests, paving the way for a journey that has taken Kukundakwe to the Olympics.<\/p>\n

The teenager never imagined that she would compete on a global stage, despite spending hours in the water every week.<\/p>\n

“It was something I had not looked into because I didn’t know para swimming ever existed or… sports (for) people with disabilities like me,” she said.<\/p>\n

A trip to Kenya’s capital — her first time taking a flight — proved to be a turning point.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, the 11-year-old had only practised alongside able-bodied swimmers.<\/p>\n

In Nairobi, she was surrounded by other disabled athletes.<\/p>\n

“I started feeling comfortable with myself. If people with disabilities more than mine… (could) feel comfortable and confident, doing what they love most and that is swimming, why not me?”<\/p>\n

She secured a certificate allowing her to participate in international sporting events, later attending a swimming camp in South Korea and eventually competing in the World Para Swimming World Series 2019 in Singapore.<\/p>\n

Then came the icing on the cake: qualifying for the Tokyo Games.<\/p>\n

But the Covid-19 pandemic threw her preparation into disarray as Ugandan authorities ordered swimming pools and gyms to close.<\/p>\n

She started going jogging with her father, a civil engineer, or her older brothers, and began taking swimming lessons on Zoom.<\/p>\n

When the Games were finally held in August 2021, she competed in the SB8 100m breaststroke. She failed to make the final but achieved a personal best time of 1 minute 34.35 seconds.<\/p>\n

She said the experience was both “amazing” and “nerve-wracking because I was competing with Paralympics legends and also meeting my role models face-to-face.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n