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Field day for specially abled children after two years
The 6th annual state-level sports meet ‘Hausla’ for specially abled children commenced at KD Singh Babu Stadium on Monday morning and will continue till Tuesday
The 6th annual state-level sports meet ‘Hausla’ for specially abled children commenced at KD Singh Babu Stadium on Monday morning and will continue till Tuesday. The event is being convened after a gap of two years and children from 24 schools participated in multi-discipline event.
There are 21 special schools from Lucknow and three from Agra, Bahraich and Kanpur, respectively.
The event started with cultural performances by students from various schools including a welcome song by students from Chetna Sansthan and dance performances from Saksham Child Development Centre and Prerna Special School.
The guests for the event were garlanded and given badges, while the ceremonial torch to officially open the event was handed over to the chief guest, MLA Rajeshwar Singh, by specially abled sports medallists. In his address Singh said, “It is indeed important to spread awareness and conduct these events at the village or block levels as well… Specially abled children have made the nation proud on many occasions and they deserve all the resources the state can give them.”
On the first day, children competed in events like shot put, sprinting, bocce, and roller-skating. Students from participating schools had also come to watch their schoolmates in action and cheer them on, while others performed songs and dances before the main podium. The prizes for the roller-skating were given out.
A few established stars from the specially abled sports scene were also attending the event. Among them were Pallav Mehrotra (softball player), Hamid (athlete), Ali (athlete), Amit Srivastav (athlete) and Ichha Patel (weightlifter), all of whom are medallists from previous years.
Patel, 18 years old, has won multiple medals in powerlifting including 4 national titles, and has won bronze in powerlifting competing with non-disabled individuals as well.
“We have a home gym and we train every day,” said Patel’s father who is also a coach and used to be a weightlifter himself. “The next step is that hopefully she gets to compete at the international level.”
Various athletics events and weightlifting will be held on the second day along with the prize distribution ceremony. The sports meet will conclude on Tuesday afternoon.
