CHENNAI: Madras West Roundtable 10 in association with Special Olympics Asia Pacific and Special Olympics Bharat organised the famous Inter-Orphan Sports Meet programme, this weekend at the Nehru Indoor Stadium. The programme has been a regular event of the MWRT 10 for two decades and is one of the very few sports meet that is exclusively conducted for children with both physical and mental disabilities.
Talking to CE, Dhushyanth Mehra, Area2 community service convenor said, “Twenty years ago, this started as a sports meet to encourage the participation of underprivileged children in such track and field events. We provide them with refreshments, awards for winners and also give them mementos to encourage their future participation. The event became more special from 2013 as children with special needs became also part of it.”
The programme in its current format is called ‘Unified Special Olympics’ and the participants include students who have special disabilities including Down syndrome. Roshan, a Class 4, a student with Down syndrome, took part in a running race event and his elated mother said, “Such events make children like him become more confident. He trained for the race every day, for the past one month and for me, the fact that he is participating in an event makes it more special. It’s a wonderful platform.”
The first few editions of the meet started with a registration of 200 students and went on to grow in number and this year, 1,000 students participated. “Over 21 schools and a total of 1,200 students have registered. This is a landmark year for the programme,” added Dhushyanth.
The event has not only been focusing on schools in the city, but also schools in other districts and outskirts. “Initially, it used to be just schools from Chennai. But, after seeing our work the Special Olympic committee, Delhi wanted us to take it to other districts like Salem, Madurai and Coimbatore. This will be executed soon. This year we have schools from Red Hills, Guduvancherry and so on,” shared Jai Daryanani, chairman, MWRT10.
Child development centre WCC, Kumaran Special School, Vishwas Special School, Madhuram Narayanan Centre, Deepam School for Special Children, Bala Vihar Special School and Sankalph were some of the few that were part of USO 2017. Swarnalatha, a mentor at Child Development Centre shared, “We have had students from our school participate in weight lifting and also representing national and state levels. We choose a specific sport to give training, according to the comfort level and interest of a student. Such events and training in necessary for the development of skills and integration of such children.”
Lalitha, parent of a 10-year-old with Down syndrome, added, “He was diagnosed at birth and it has been an emotional journey for me. Most parents face this…but, seeing them take part in such big events, which build skills and helps them mingle with other children, is amazing. He is an extremely happy child these days!”
With the support and volunteering of employees from Cognizant and TCS, the event had cultural events and felicitation of international level athletes. Mariyappan Thangavelu, Abhishek Swaminathan and Kariappa Kumar were among the athletes who were felicitated. Actor Santhanam was also a part of the event and celebrated his birthday with the children.