A Competition of Champions

A shining light 

TSAM Ambassador Ntando Mahlangu won the 400m race in fine style. Gauteng Sports Awards’ 2021 Disabled Sportsman of the Year and Sport Personality of the Year, Mahlangu is a Tokyo 2021 Paralympic gold medallist and world record holder in athletics.  

Mobility defying discrimination 

TSAM’s sponsorship of this event stems from the brand’s belief that mobility goes beyond cars; it is about overcoming challenges and making dreams come true. This important partnership with the SASAPD promotes the sporting codes offered at Paralympic level for athletes with disabilities.  

“At Toyota, we believe that movement and mobility in all its definitions is all around us. Sport has the power to connect people. This is where we learn the true power of sport – it can challenge us, inspire us and, most importantly, unify us,” says TSAM. And this championship does exactly that on so many levels.  

Toyota’s values of continuous improvement and respect for people are shared by SASAPD and as a partner, Toyota aims to encourage creating a peaceful society without discrimination through sports and is committed to creating a sustainable society through mobility. 

Start Your Impossible 

This philosophy is encapsulated in the company’s “Start Your Impossible” corporate tagline and is the basis for its transformation from a car company to a mobility company that highlights real-life mobility stories, as well as everyday people and athletes who demonstrate the values of humility, hard work and tenacity in the face of adversity. 

About more than medals 

The power and importance of events like this can be summed up perfectly in the words Mahlangu used the day after winning his two gold medals at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021: “It is about more than medals. It is about continuing a legacy to promote sport as a way to change perceptions about disability and to make our country proud.”  

About SASAPD

SASAPD is a federation that promotes sport for athletes with disabilities and visual impairments from grass-roots to Paralympic level. It currently caters for a number of regions throughout the country and for five disability groups, including spinal cord injuries, amputees, cerebral palsied, visually impaired and blind, and les autres (a category for Paralympic competitors whose disability does not fit into the other five categories).