N.Z. boycotted at contest for disabled

Press, 28 October 1981, Page 1

N.Z. boycotted at contest for disabled

PA Wellington The presence of New Zealand competitors at an international contest for the disabled in Japan had led to the withdrawal of the Ugandan and Zambian teams last week, said the chairman of the New Zealand Paraplegic and Physically Disabled Federation, Dr Norrie Jefferson, yesterday. The Ugandan team had not come to the contest at all because New Zealand had been represented there and the Zambian team had been told by the Zambian Embassy in Japan to go home. A Japanese factory for the disabled had cancelled an invitation to the New Zealanders to visit the factory because it might have caused "an international incident.” The Zambians had “talked to us quite normally” at the initial meetings of, the contest, the Vocational Skills Festival, before returning home, said Dr Jefferson. Dr Jefferson, who led the New r Zealand delegation, returned home on Monday. Inspite of the boycott, New Zealand won two of the 19 skill events. Contestants from 57 countries competed at skills such as milling, watch repairing, engineering drawing, television repairing, and knitting.