Luanda — Heads of associations of disabled persons attending the 3rd Congress and General Assembly of the African Sports Confederation of Disabled (ASCOD) Thursday here guaranteed that the practice of sports has been contributing to the social insertion of their members in the country.

During the forum, attended by the President of the International Paralympic Committee, Sir Philip Craven, the members unanimously affirmed that many of their associates have become financially independent, and support themselves and their family members since they started joining sports.

According to them, the sport has been the door for the social insertion of their members who benefit from a professional training, aimed at equipping them for the future life.

The vice-president of the Angolan Paralympic Committee and co-founder of ANDA, Adelino Francisco said that his institution has a sports training programme for disabled people, and guaranteed professional training through meetings with centres of the Ministry of Public Administration, Employment and Social Security.

On his turn, AMMIGA's secretary for advocacy, Lourenço Humba defended the creation of more sports activities with view to benefit other disabled people, regardless of their disability.

The meeting gathered the presidents of ASCOD, of IPC and of the International Volleyball Confederation, Nabill Salim, Philip Craven and Pierre Van, respectively, as well as delegates from 20 countries such as Zambia, Cape Verde, South Africa, Sao Tome and Principe, Nigeria, Mauritius, Egypt, Mozambique, Algeria, Morocco and Ethiopia.