Dr Mukiri Mukiria Trains And Qualifies As An International Paralympic Classifier

Dr Mukiri Mukuria is now an international athletics classifier after training with the International Paralympics Commitee (IPC).

Sports for athletes with impairment were widely introduced after WW II to assist large number of war veterans and civilians injured during the war. The first Paralympic games took place in Rome, Italy 1960. Currently the Paralympic games take place every 4 years in the same cities and venues as the Olympic Games. Paralympic games are organised through the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Athletes who participate in Paralympics have varying degrees of disability and therefore need to be assessed for eligibility and thereafter categorised into sport classes in a way that their impairment has minimal impact on their performance. This rigorous process is called classification of athletes and those that carry out this evaluation are called classifiers.  

The IPC organised training for classifiers and coaches for athletes with disabilities in either visual or physical impairment. It took place in Lilongwe, Malawi from 28th November to 3rd December 2022 and brought together trainees from various countries such as Kenya (Dr Mukiri Mukuria, Lecturer – Dept of Ophthalmology, UoN), Ethiopia, Eritrea, Algeria, Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Namibia, Cape Verde and New Zealand.

The trainers were from Kenya (Prof Dunera Ilako, Dept of Ophthalmology, UoN) and Mr Julius Rono (Lecturer, Masinde Muliro University). Others were Ms Marieke Creese and Ward Nieboer from Germany (IPC- Headquarters) and David Mann (UK).