It completes a remarkable journey for the former refugee who has risen from shoe shine boy to become one of Angola's most successful businessmen and has established the Paralympics in the country, first arranging for the country to make its debut in the Games at Atlanta in 1996.

It was after the Games in Atlanta that da Rocha convened a meeting of African sporting associations and helped form the ASCOD.

The efforts of da Rocha to give Angola's disabled athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest level reached its fruition at the Athens Paralympics in 2004 when visually impaired sprinter Jose Sayovo Armando won three gold medals in the 100, 200 and 400 metres events - breaking the world record for all three in the process.

"This was one of my proudest moments," said da Rocha.

In Beijing four years later Armando won silver medals in all three events.
 
Just as remarkable is how da Rocha has established himself as a leading businessman having started out shining the shoes of South African soldiers during Angola's bitter civil war, which had left him and his family as refugees.

During a career in the shipping industry, he has helped transform Nile-Dutch (NDS)  from a company with one ship into one of the biggest in Africa.

As director, da Rocha not only expanded the company's shipping business, but he established a dry-dock, a 65,000 tonne container terminal and a gas-export terminal among his other business activities.

The 47-year-old da Rocha was elected to President of the ASCOD ahead of Libyan Rigbi Khaled and the outgoing Egyptian Nabil Salem, polling 19 of the 31 votes.

He will lead a new Board that will also include Cape Verde's Jose Rodrigo as secretary general and Khaled, Morocco's Elouni Hamid and South Africa's Sarel Marais as the three vice-presidents.