Jaipur meet awaits special five
amshedpur, Feb. 3: Five physically challenged persons of the Parents’ Association of Mentally Handicapped, Jamshedpur, have been chosen to represent the state at the National Paralympics in Jaipur.
The national meet would be held at Sawai Mansingh Stadium from February 19 to 23.
P. Bharati (26), Pinky Toppo (36), Surindra Kumar Rautray (26), Sanjeev Sharma (24) and Kartik Kumar (15) have been selected for the national event, organised by the Paralympic Committee of India. All the five special sportspersons have won the 9th Paralympic Athletics Games for Disabled at Birsa Railway Stadium in Ranchi held on January 24 and 25.
The sportspersons would be the only representatives from the state in the mentally retarded category. The other categories are track and field events in visually challenged, hearing impaired and mentally challenged and orthopaedically challenged classes. The group would take part in shot put and 100 and 200m events.
“Even now, many parents hesitate to bring the special ones in public and hardly let them take part in sports like these. They may be mentally retarded but are as good sportspersons as others. They have won accolades in the district level and now I am sure they will perform better at the national level too,” said P. Babu Rao, the association’s secretary.
The urban services wing of Tata Steel also provided the participants with a coach to groom them better for the national event. However, support from parents is the most important thing for them. “They are special and it is the duty of parents to encourage them in life. The truth is that even they have the potential to excel like others and many dreams to fulfil,” said Rao.
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