Fun and frolic marked the district-level sports meet for differently abled persons held at Anna Stadium here on Thursday.
Nearly 250 of them took part in the meet organised by the Tiruchi-unit of Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT). Collector Jayashree Muralidharan, who inaugurated the competition, said that such meets provided a platform for differently abled to showcase their skills. Taking part in sporting activities will help in overcoming stress, she said.
K.Selvakumar, chief educational officer, A.Santhan, regional senior manager, Tiruchi-unit of SDAT, and P.Kalaiselvan, district sports officer, participated in the inaugural function.
The competitions were conducted under four categories – orthopedically-challenged, visually-challenged, mentally- challenged, and hearing-impaired. Badminton and table tennis were conducted for orthopedically-challenged persons, while visually-challenged fought it out at adapted volleyball .
The mentally-challenged and hearing-impaired took part in the throwball and kabaddi events respectively.
The winners:
Men: Adapted volleyball: ORBIT; Badminton: Singles: G. Gopinath (Allur), Doubles: N. Arumugam and G. Kopinath (ORBIT); Kabaddi: Dolour Deaf and Dumb School; Table tennis: Singles: R. Deenadhayalan (ORBIT), Doubles: J.M. Eric Fernando and B. Aanandh (Spastics Society); Throwball: Vidivelli Special School.
Women:
Adapted volleyball: Rehabilitation Centre for Blind Women; Kabaddi: Dolour Deaf and Dumb School; Kabaddi: Dolour Deaf and Dumb School; Throwball: Vidivelli Special School.