The African Sports Confederation of Disabled (ASCOD) has elected a new Governing Board (GB) at its General Assembly which took place on 24 January.

Results of the election were Leonel da Rocha (Angola) as ASCOD President, Jose Rodrigo (Cape Verde) as Secretary General, and Rigbi Khaled (Libya), Elouni Hamid (Morocco) and Sarel Marais (South Africa) as the three Vice Presidents.

ASCOD's newly elected President takes the place of Nabil Salem (Egypt), also a former GB Member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). President da Rocha formally thanked Mr Salem at the General Assembly for his outstanding work on development and pioneering effort on sport and activities for people with a disability in the African countries.

Mr da Rocha has been in his third term as President of the National Paralympic Committee of Angola, where he was able to create favourable conditions in organizing more than 1,500 people with a disability to participate in sports.

The record number of attendees at the ASCOD General Assembly was a total of 31 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs), with three additional countries as observers. The successful event in Cairo, Egypt, held an outcome of not only new representatives, but also a positive and hopeful looking into the future of Paralympic Sport in Africa.

Included in the development plan for the future was an improved co-operation with the IPC, International Organisations of Sport for the Disabled (IOSDs), International Sport Federations (IF) and other partners in the Paralympic Movement. Additionally, ASCOD plans to implement a system which will improve communication and relationships between the organization and the African NPCs.

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