Five from Telangana to represent country at Special Olympics
HYDERABAD: They may avoid eye contact, or speak fewer words, but their dedication and discipline may fetch Telangana its future sporting icons; in a first, the State would send five children with intellectual disabilities to the 50th edition of Special Olympics to be held in Abu Dhabi in March this year.
These athletes, between the ages of 17 and 19, would be part of India’s contingent of over 300 athletes and partake in various sporting events, such as, like cycling, roller skating, football and aquatics, that would begin on March 14.
Among the selected are, Koushik Ashok Advaith for aquatics, Khalid Bellary and Harivansh Samanth D for cycling, Mohammed Dastagir Ghulam for roller skating and Alauddin for football. All of them have varying levels of intellectual disability and autism, with their speech impacted.
“We have over 70,000 athletes in the Telugu states who are doing extremely well in the sporting arena despite the challenges in training them. These children have various intellectual disabilities like autism, Down’s syndrome, and slow learning. This makes sports an integral part of their rehab as it helps them focus much better,” said C Rajasekhar, Area Director for Special Olympics — Bharat, TS and AP chapter.
All five chosen come from challenging backgrounds, making their selection all the more special.
While Khalid is the son of a tenant farmer in Kurnool, Harivansh’s father is a person with physical disability, who had to struggle to ensure his son had a place in the society. Mohammed has been deaf and dumb, making his training more complex, while Alauddin and Kaushik have had speech difficulties.
Nevertheless, the team has battled all obstacles and cleared every round of training at the district, State, and national-levels and four preparatory camps held over the last two years.
“Since they have intellectual disabilities, they sometimes forget basic actions. Therefore, practising a sport regularly is critical. We gauge their performances daily and they will continue to practise until they leave for Abu Dhabi,” added Rajasekhar.
The Special Olympics are just like the mainstream Olympics, held every two years with winter and summer games. The Indian chapter of the same, called the Special Olympics - Bharat, trains children for the games and is supported by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
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