MARCH 20, 2019
The fever of Indian Premier League (IPL) is at its prime with the tournament set to begin on March 23. However, there’s Special Olympics going on in the United Arab Emirates and where Indian athletes have been performing exceedingly well. One look at the event says it out loud that India are excelling over there.
When the IPL is around the corner or is going on, the entire sporting attention of India shifts to the glitzy tournament. In fact, on the same day as the IPL, Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in hockey is also beginning but there’s not much focus on that.
While IPL continues to be the centre of sports news currently, India’s success at the Special Olympics must not be sidelined.
So far, India have won a total of 233 medals in the ongoing Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi. Till March 19, the Indian contingent had won 60 gold, 83 silver and 90 bronze medals.
The medals are won across Athletics, Aquatics, Cycling, Judo, Powerlifting, Table Tennis, Roller skating, Badminton, Basketball Traditional, Handball Traditional and Football 7 Side Female.
The 15th Special Olympics World Summer Games is being held in Abu Dhabi from March 14-21, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE’s Armed Forces.
With more than 7,500 athletes from over 192 nations competing, Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 has become the largest sports and humanitarian event in the world and has set the benchmark for the most unified Games in the 50-year history of the Special Olympics movement.
This is India’s 9th participation at the Special Olympics and India is participating in 14 out of 24 Olympic-type sports featuring the World Games.
49 MEDALS IN ROLLER SKATING
Indian athletes performed beyond expectations in the roller skating event winning a total of 49 medals at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) on Tuesday.
So far, the highest number of gold medals have come for India in roller skating. In the sport, India won 13 gold, 20 silver, and 16 bronze medals.
JITENDER PAWAL BEATS POVERTY TO GOLD
19-year old Jitendra Pawal won a gold medal in the 200m race in his division at the Dubai Police Stadium on Sunday despite having struggled with poverty and daily necessities.
After winning the gold, in an interview with the Special Olympics correspondents, Jitender’s coach Harish said, “Despite his struggles, Jitendra never gave up his hope of participating in the World Games and eventually ended up winning the gold.”
Harish was full of praise for the athletes from all over the world who have shown incredible skill and dedication at the World Games.
“If God has taken away some abilities from these people, he has also blessed people of determination with many unique and special abilities as well as talents.
“Society should try to identify the unique and special abilities of the determined ones and polish them so that they can play an important role in society.
“One should not overlook or back away from people of determination, instead everyone should encourage these people so they can be a very important part of the society and be able to contribute towards the betterment of the country,” said Harish.
