Rabat – Moroccans earned a total of 18 medals, including six gold, during the first Pan-African Special Olympics from January 23 to 30 in Cairo, Egypt.
Morocco participated in basketball, track-and-field athletics, and bocce. The games also held a competition in football.
Most of the events were also qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, set to be held between August 25 and September 6, 2020.
In basketball, Moroccan teams dominated both the men’s and women’s competitions, beating out their Egyptian opponents in the finals.
Morocco won three gold medals in the track-and-field division, along with two silver and five bronze.
Moroccan bocce players earned one gold, five silver, and seven bronze medals.
The Pan-African games marked the first-ever joint event between Special Olympics Middle East and North Africa and Special Olympics Africa.
Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the younger sister of US President John F Kennedy, Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual and physical disabilities.
The organization provides year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries.
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