The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A match for the hearing impaired

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 14, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A match for the hearing impaired

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association for the Deaf organised their first inter-district cricket tournament for the hearing impaired here on Tuesday.

Teams from Kanyakumari, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur and Chennai gathered at the Anna University playground for the qualifying matches. The final match is scheduled for Thursday.

Inaugurating the tournament, actor and television personality Bosskey said that cricket was a sportsman's game, and that what mattered was how one played it and not what one was. "Don't get discouraged by the disability. See the positive aspects," he said.

As the actor spoke to them, Vijaya Bhaskaran of Ability Foundation translated it into sign language.

Every time he cracked a joke, they applauded by waving their hands in the air. While some of the players were hearing impaired, a few were both hearing and speech impaired.

Secretary of the Association Barkat S. Saiyed said he had played for Gujarat earlier and that he had gained a lot of experience there. "I want to share it with the juniors," he said.

Captain of the Chennai team Raja said Sachin Tendulkar inspired him most.

Raja will represent India in the Asia Cup tournament to be organised in Delhi early next year.

P. Chandrasekar, who has been coaching the Chennai team for the last one year, said a scientific way of coaching would help. "Many who usually play tennis ball cricket have come to play with the cricket ball.

Coaching has to be consistent and not just before tournaments," he said.

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