Team Herald
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Thousands of special children from 24 special schools and a centre for blind (National Association for Blind. NAB, St Cruz Branch) participated in the 2nd State level special school sports competitions athletic meet, organised by the Sports Authority of Goa, at the SAG Athletic Stadium Bambolim, recently.
The competitions were held in three different categories, grouped as per the needs of each special athlete participating in the competitions namely Intellectually Disabled (ID) lower Ability/Higher Ability groups, Hearing Impaired(HI) and Learning Disabilities(LD) and Visually Impaired (Low/ high degree of visual impairment).
Track and field events such as sprints ( 25,50,100,200 mtrs), relays (4×100), walks, long jump, shot put, soft ball throws were held which showcased the sporting prowess/talent of the special athletes.
In addition, competitions in ringo stick, bocce, swimming, badminton and table tennis for special children will be also held as per the schedule devised by the Sports Authority of Goa in collaboration with the Special Schools Management, in this scholastic year of 2018-19.
This year the competition saw an increase in the number of participating schools (24) compared to last year (22).
Children from the National Association For Blind, NAB, St Cruz branch participated for the first time in any sporting event in Goan history.
Secretary to the Chief Minister Goa/Secretary Sports & Youth Affairs Govt of Goa, Ashok Kumar IAS, was the chief guest while VM Prabhudesai, Executive Director SAG was the guest of honour. Other dignitaries present were Tatu Kudalkar, Headmaster Sanjay Schools, Arvind More Headmaster Lok Vishwas Schools presented medals and certificates to the winners. V M Prabhudesai and Joint Director Accounts/Director Adm SAG Dnyaneshwar Naik also presented medals and certificates to the winners.
