CHENNAI: Rolling coloured leather balls and enthusiastic cheering marked the day-long festivity that was the Ektha-Republic Day Boccia Challenge, conducted at Vidyasagar, with six teams from across the city.
Boccia is a popular game that is adapted for people with disabilities (PwDs) which involves a white ball called a jack and two sets of red and blue balls. The aim is to throw the coloured balls as close as possible to the white jack, often with the use of assistive aids such as ramps for people with severe disabilities. It is recognised as a Paralympic sport.
“We have teams from Vidyasagar, Ektha Foundation, Thiruvallur, Red Hills, and also two others participating. More were supposed to come but couldn’t because of transport problems,” says Satish Kumar, who along with Rajiv of Ektha Foundation (an organisation promoting rights of PwDs) organised the Boccia event.
“To play a game is also the right of every person — regardless of whether he has a disability or not,” says Satish.
They had a tentative start in February 2016 and since then they have been conducting regular training session during weekends for the PwDs.
“India does not have a Boccia team representing the country at the Paralympics — our ultimate aim is to form a team and send a contingent for the Paralympics in 2020. Through this tournament we want to spread the message and get more organisations to participate so that we can impart adequate training to them.”
The kit for Boccia is quite expensive, says Rajiv, and 13 balls costs nearly Rs 10,000. “We have set 2018 as the target to form a proper team of six good Boccia players — not just from Chennai but from across India. However, we will have to go there, which is a problem, as commute is an issue for PwDs.
Nevertheless, we are planning to expose the game to a wider audience and a few special schools too,” adds Rajiv.
To volunteer or contribute towards the development of the Boccia team for the Paralympics, call 9710903660