At the blow of a whistle, they started racing towards the finishing line. It took a keen eye to spot that the participants in the 100 metre race were partially visually challenged.
With an encouraging audience egging them on, the students of Government Arts College, Coimbatore, completed the race without any hitch.
A first-of-its-kind for the college, the sports activity saw 28 out of the 41 students studying in the college, actively participate in the three events that was organised here on Wednesday.
While there were running and shot put events for the orthopaedically challenged and partially visually challenged students, there were walking and shot put events for the totally visually challenged. Indoor games such as chess and carom were also being organised in the next few days.
The events were planned by the committee set up under the aegis of the Higher Education for Persons with Special Needs (HEPSN) scheme of the University Grants Commission. Explaining about the initiative, a committee member and Assistant Professor of English of the college A.S. Mohanagiri, a visually challenged person himself, said that though the planning was done by the committee, the implementation was done by the differently-abled students themselves.
“The Director of Physical Education, P. Veerapandian, trained the students for a few days and motivated them to take part. Since this was the first attempt, the students were not very confident about taking part.
Still, 28 was a good number. The winners will receive certificates during the college Sports Day,” he said.
Winner of the 100 metre race and shot put in the totally visually challenged category M. Brune, a first-year MA student who lost his vision when he was in Standard IX, had been running since school days.
He is self-trained on the Braille chess and also practises using the Accessible Computer Chess software.
It was an invigorating experience for the students who felt a real sense of achievement. It did not matter whether they had won or lost. Some of the parents were there to see their wards take part. N. Balakrishnan, father of B. Loganayaki, who won the women’s 100-metre race, was very happy. Prompted by the committee members, it was he who encouraged his daughter to take part.
Addressing the students at a programme following the event, principal of the college V. Jothimani, who is also the chairperson of the committee, said it was a heartening response for a first attempt.
The event would be made an annual occurrence. Cultural competitions would also be included, she added.
Arunima Sinha, the first woman amputee to scale Mount Everest, spoke.
Ms. Sinha lost her left leg when she was thrown off a moving train for resisting a chain-snatching attempt a few years ago.
