Something special about these Games

Seldom has any sport, except cricket, been meticulously planned and executed in India. Yet, the country8217;s sports administrators are alw...

Seldom has any sport, except cricket, been meticulously planned and executed in India. Yet, the country8217;s sports administrators are always ready to bare their chests in broad daylight and tom-tom their love for games, their promotion and the athletes.

But what you see more often than not is the 8216;promotion8217; of their own lot who wants to have the best both worlds, leaving the athletes 8212; the main artistes 8212; in the lurch.

However, there is one sports body which thinks, works and, genuinely promotes the interests of athletes. And what is more, it holds the athletes in 8216;special8217; esteem. At Special Olympics Bharat SOB, a unit of the international sports body for the mentally-challenged people, the focus is significantly on the participants.

With just a couple of months to go for the World Games at Dublin, the key difference that separates SOB and federations of other sports is the treatment meted out to these 8216;special8217; athletes.

Sample this. SOB will be sending a 88-member continget to the Dublin event where 170 countries will be participating. The Indian body hopes to give the 8216;athletes8217; an awesome send-off party. 8216;8216;Since the selections have been done, now our main concern is to build up the profiles of the athletes and make people aware of their special achievements,8217;8217; says National Director Noel Philips.

Part of their awareness programme about the athlete is a live concert by a popular band in five major cities of the country. SOB has spent around Rs 5 crore on athletes8217; preparations 8212; selection criteria included local, state and national level competitions. Then on the basis of their performance at the National Games 8212; 2,500 athletes competed 8212; the squad for the World Games was picked. Even coaches had been trained specially for the World Games.

In comparison, the ambience surrounding most of our sports federations is appalling.

Story continues below this ad

Take the Hyderabad National Games. Not only the timing was odd but the Games, as they happened soon after the Busan Asian Games, failed to evoke little interest and some of the states 8216;lost8217; their athletes to the ones where the motivation was money.

But at SOB, as Philips says, the contribution of its state units towards fund raising and training athletes has been praiseworthy. It is difficult to get corporate sponsorship for sports in India but Philips believes that it is 8216;8216;not all that impossible8217;8217; if you are committed and serious about the aim.

In India, there is an estimated 30 million mentally-challenged, most of whom live in obscurity with little opportunities to overcome the social obstacles. But come the World Games, the mentally-challenged are ready to show the stuff they are made of. The number of medals from them may not matter. But what will is their determination to overcome the odds and be counted.