District Welfare Committee partly funded for seven intellectually challenged Athletes participation in – Athens Special Olympics 2011 – cheques handed over by District Collector, Ms.Jayashree Muralidharan.

Trichy collector Smt.Jayashree hands over cheques to Athletes

Trichy: June 7: Trichy Differently abled seven Athletes those were selected and proceed to participate in Special Olympics to be held in Athens at Greece were blessed by District Collector, Ms.Jayashree Muralidharan. Trichy Chapter members of Special Olympic Bharat, Tamilnadu wished the seven intellectually challenged Athletes from Trichy to win Gold medals for India at Special Olympics world summer games to be held in Athens, Greece from June 25 to July 4 2011, wherein 7,500 Special Olympics Athletes from 172 nations will compete in 22 Olympic-type sports. Dr.K.Govindaraju, Chairman of Trichy chapter of  Special Olympic Bharat, Tamilnadu said that seven intellectually challenged children participate in this Special Olympic from Trichy two from Asha Deepam School and five from Vidivelli School of Trichy. The seven Athletes from Tiruchi are A.Sindhu Bhairavi, M.Priya M. Shanthi R.Praveena, V.Karthikeyan, Harisrinivasan and M.Chandrabose.Special Olympic coach and Director of Special Olympic Bharat, Tamilnadu Mr.Paul Deva Sahayam accompanies these children and lead them to Special Olympic Venue of Athens in Greece.  The team left from Trichy on 7^th June,2011 and earlier District Collector Ms.Jayashree Muralidharan, District Differently abled welfare officer Ms.Symala, District Revenue Officer Ms.Pechiammal and officials from District Welfare committee Exective officer, Dr.Thirunavukarasu and Trichy chapter members of Special Olympic Bharat, Tamilnadu wished these participants a successful mission in Athens. On behalf of Trichy District welfare committee, its president and District Collector Ms.Jayashree Muralidharan handed over Rs. 5,000 each for 7 participants as part of their travel cost. Mr. Paul Devasahayam, Director of SOB, Tamilnadu mentioned that “Athens was selected as the host of the 2011 World Summer Games by the Special Olympics International Board of Directors in June 2007. The 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, which promise to be one of the world's largest multi-sport and humanitarian events, will unite 7,500 athletes from more than 172 countries. Athens hosted the 2004 Olympic Games, and Special Olympics athletes will compete at many of the same venues in 2011.The Special Olympics World Games will be the crowning of a long lasting movement founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver who managed to realize her dream of global magnitude”. Mr. Paul Devasagayam further said “This year, a team of 260 athletes, coaches and officials are representing India in 12 Olympic type sports. Athletes would be participating in Aquatics, Athletics, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Basketball, Cycling, Bocce, Handball, Power Lifting, Football (soccer) and Roller Skating. The Special Olympics World Games are held once in four years. Air Marshal Denzil Keelor (Retd.), Chairman, Special Olympics Bharat and the entire team are very supportive to Special Olympic, SOB-India has been sending Teams to participate in various sports disciplines. Special Olympics Bharat, the National Programme based in Delhi, is accredited by Special Olympics International. It is recognized by Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt of India, as a National Sports Federation for development of sports for the differently abled persons. SOB-India has established sub-programmes in 31 states and has over 750,000 Registered Special Athletes in its programmes. Special Olympics Bharat also participated in the last two World Winter Games held at Nagano Japan in 2005 and Idaho, USA in 2009. At the 2009 Games, the boy’s team won the Gold whereas the Girls team brought Silver, the snow sports teams such as Alpine Skiing, Snow Boarding and Snow Shoes teams brought back 2 Gold, 8 Silver and Bronze. Special Olympic International is a worldwide organisation founded by Mrs Eunice Shriver, sister of (late) President, John F Kennedy of USA, which promotes the development of sports programme for the intellectually disabled. It is officially recognized body by the IOC and operates in 172 countries’’-Govin