EAST TIMOR: DISABLED ATHLETES AIM FOR SPOT AT BIG GAMES.

By Matt Crook

DILI, Jul. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Jose Noronha gets around Dili, East Timor, on a red wheelchair-bicycle hybrid that can be pedaled with his hands. The disabled athlete, with minimal use of his legs, is making maximum use of his upper body as he practices throwing shotputs into the air.

Picking up a five kilogram shotput, he swings back and forth before unleashing a piercing growl as he launches the metal ball into the air. He watches it land five metres away.

"I enjoy doing this," he says. "Because I can practice like this, I can be happy; I can do something."

Part of the nation's under-supported troop of disabled athletes, 46-year-old Noronha first started throwing shotputs in 1991 during the Indonesian occupation, which lasted for 24 years until 1999.

"I practice here four times a week, lifting and throwing," says Noronha, who services radios and televisions when he's not hurling shotputs.

He had been hoping to secure a spot at this month's Lusophony Games in Portugal, but a dearth of funding opportunities means that East Timor can only send two athletes.