Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Madurai
Mangalore
Pondicherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
Ready to floor all
|
For the first time, Indian athletes participating in the Special Olympics World Winter Games have got proper training. RANA SIDDIQUI speaks to officials as the 2005 Games starts this Saturday.
|
Akshay Kumar, the brand ambassador for Special Olympics, Bharat with the Indian floor hockey team in New Delhi.
`LET ME win. If I don't win, let me be brave in the attempt', is the message that 16 athletes from India are giving to the world, as they start off their effort at the Special Olympics World Winter Games-2005 beginning in Nagano, Japan this Saturday. The event will see 1600 athletes from 70 countries. The Indian contingent will participate in the floor hockey match. And to boost their morale, this year Akshay Kumar has been chosen as the brand ambassador for the Special Olympics, Bharat.
India had won a bronze medal in the Special Olympics held in Alaska in 2001. "Earlier we lacked proper infrastructure for floor hockey (an adaptation from ice hockey) which is a winter sport, and we lack the winter sports culture in India as we don't have ice rinks like the West has," reveals Noel Phillips, National Director, Special Olympics Bharat.
But this year India can afford to have high hopes because the players were provided special training for 10 days at Shimla to acclimatise them to temperature as low as two degrees Celsius, though the expected temperature at Nagano is seven to 10 degrees. The training also involved exercises in concentration and team spirit through yoga and counselling, which was not the practice earlier. Moreover, this year floor hockey equipment as sticks, thigh pads, etc., which will be used in these Olympics are imported from America as India doesn't manufacture them as yet, adds Phillips.
Indian participants are "moderately disabled" says Tony Greisen, Managing Director, Special Olympics, Asia Pacific. "We have global trainers from Japan, Austria and other countries for participants in the Special Olympics. The quality of training is not a matter of concern for India but the number of trainers. Our top notch coaches come from India especially in cricket for the special people, but their numbers are so few," he laments.
What makes this Special Olympics interesting is their team spirit. "I was in Atlanta during the last Olympics (in 2001) there. 12 athletes were running. Suddenly one out of them fell and 11 others only noticed it when they reached a little further. All of them came back, picked him up, helped him gain speed and then resumed their pace. I marvelled at it. I never saw such a humane approach and team spirit in so-called normal people like us," recalls Akshay Kumar making a "special request" to the media, "Please don't address them as disabled or even special, call them just athletes."
Man-made ice rinks
Now the good news is that even India might come up with man-made ice rinks to practice skiing, which might result in India participating in the skiing competition too. This is because Himachal Pradesh has shown interest in the idea, reveals Phillips.
The concept of encouraging corporate houses and the Government to support this kind of sport hasn't come without a price. "We faced severe hostility each time we went to the Government. Unless we have some special considerations for them in the budget, how can we expect them to rise in the society? Even if something is done for them, it is within the disability programme. So how can we pull them into the mainstream?" questions D. Keelor, Chairman, Special Olympics, Bharat.
Any answers?
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Madurai
Mangalore
Pondicherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
|
