This story is from February 17, 2019

Sports meet for disabled sees over 500 participants

The Tamil Nadu Differently Abled Federation Charitable Trust held their annual state level sports meet on Saturday.More than with disabilities from across the state participated.
Sports meet for disabled sees over 500 participants
Representative image
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Differently Abled Federation Charitable Trust held their annual state level sports meet on Saturday. More than with disabilities from across the state participated.
Minister for Tamil official language and Tamil culture K Pandiarajan presided over the event. "Those participating in paralympics win more medals than anybody else. We must encourage more people to participate in such events and allocate a special budget for them," he said.
The 18th annual event had over 72 games for people with various disabilities.
They were seen participating in wheelchair racing, kabaddi, sitting volleyball and wheelchair shot put among others.
"While they all do very well in various sports events, they are left unrecognised by the state bodies," said D Ponnusamy, secretary of the trust. He pointed to a list of requests which they will soon be submitting to the authorities concerned. "We first need subsidy for disabled sports persons in buying sports equipment and have specially designed wheelchairs at nominal rates. The second demand is that all Sport Development Authority Tamil Nadu grounds must be disabled friendly and free to conduct sporting events for them," he said.
Ponnusamy further insisted that the state must recognise disabled sportsperson who've won medals in international sporting events. "They participate in various events, but the recognition they get from the state is nothing when compared to what the others get. We want the state to regulate the various disability rights groups, that promote sports persons and treat them as equals by allocating a special budget that they can benefit from," said Ponnusamy.
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