Record-breaking Sururu nominated for Soya accolade
Kenyan para rower Asiya Mohammed during her training session on August 25, 2021 at the Tokyo Sea Forest Waterway.
What you need to know:
- On her part, Chemurgor won the hammer throw during the 2nd Africa Deaf athletics championship in Nairobi with a championship record of 21.73m.
- She completed a double in the championships by winning the discus throw with a throw of 20m.
History-making para-rower Asiya Sururu will battle four others at the 2023 Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA) for the Sportswoman Living with Disability accolade.
Phenomenal Sururu, who set two world records in 2023, faces a stiff challenge from Jane Ndenga (wheelchair tennis), Purity Jepkirui Kandie (Special Olympics), Nancy Chelangat (Para-athletics), and Ruth Chemurgor (Deaflympics).
The winner will be unveiled during the 20th edition of the SOYA gala scheduled for February 23 in Nairobi.
Sururu set a new world record on October 7, 2023, on the Concept2 Row ski bike ERG (indoor rowing) for 60 minutes over a distance of 11,243m on October 7, before breaking the second world record four days later with a new mark of 30 over a distance of 5,610m in the women 30-39 PR1.
The two records have all been verified by the World Rowing Federation.
October was her best month as she also qualified for this year's Paris Paralympic Games during the regatta qualifiers in Tunisia where she won the PR1 women’s single sculls (12:44) to become the first Kenyan rower to qualify for two consecutive Paralympic Games.
In addition, Sururu had also won an adaptive rowing event in Oxford city, Royal Regatta apart from becoming the first Kenyan rower to participate in the Rowing World Cup2 in Varese, Italy where she was second in the PR1 single sculls women's final B.
Ndenga won the Nairobi Open 11 Futures singles and reached the quarter-finals of the first Africa Para Games in Ghana before she made it to the finals with Phoebe Masika and won Kenya’s only silver medal at the games.
Special Olympics athlete Kandie from Kitale Special School won the gold medal in the 50m race during the 2023 Special Olympic games in Berlin, which was an improvement from 2019 when she won silver. She went a notch higher to take part in the Standing long jump where she won a fourth-place ribbon.
Paralympian Chelangat was once again the pride of the nation during the 2023 World Para Athletics Championship in Paris.
She won gold in the 1500m T11 race in a championship record of 4:46.55 seconds to erase the old mark set by Chinese Zheng Jin in 2015 of 4:47.71 as Mary Waithera won bronze.
Chelangat also won gold in the 2023 Grand Prix in Marrakech in the 1500m T11 race in 4:52.36 ahead of Waithera. She also competed in the 400m T11 race where she bagged bronze with her brother Geoffrey Kiplangat as the guide in all the races.
On her part, Chemurgor won the hammer throw during the 2nd Africa Deaf athletics championship in Nairobi with a championship record of 21.73m.
She completed a double in the championships by winning the discus throw with a throw of 20m.
