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Chandra calls for a world cup of the specially abled

Last Updated 19 December 2012, 18:35 IST

Former international cricketer and legend B S Chandrashekar strongly felt that nobody was disabled and anyone with interest could achieve anything in life.

He was speaking after inaugurating the Corporate Unified Premier League, CUPL 2012,  being jointly organized by Mysore District Parents’ Association for Empowering Developmentally Disabled (MDPAEDD, a unit of PARIVAAR the National Confederation of Parents’ Associations of India), Sports and Cultural Academy for the Differently-Abled, Karnataka(SACADA) and Rotary Mysore Midtown, here on Wednesday at the SJCE grounds and said, “I myself was a polio victim at the age of five. I did not even give a thought to it and I took up cricket which made me what I am today.”

Just two weeks ago, the Indian Blind Cricket team had won the world cup and the visually challenged were playing the game with such confidence that they did not look disabled at all.  The strokes that the batsmen were playing listening to the sound of the ball was itself a lesson for everyone about what disabled persons could achieve if they have determination, he said.

Chandra as he is popularly called, was confident that a unique tournament like the CUPL will in course of time transform into a world cup cricket tournament for the specially-abled.

MUDA chairman L Nagendra assured the organisers of the tournament all help from the authority to provide CA sites for setting up a special school and a training centre for the specially-abled.

Honorary secretary of CUPL  Anuradha Nandakumar spoke about the importance and the challenges of organising a tournament of this nature for the first time in the country.
Special employees Shilpa and Sandhya rendered the invocation and K Narendranath proposed a vote of thanks.

Rotary Midtown president R S Vishwanath, CUPL chairman Sathyanarayan Nadig, MDPAEDD president Arakkal Basheer and SACADA secretary Amarendra were present.

A total of ten teams are participating in the three-day tournament beginning from Thursday. The teams comprise of five specially-abled players and six normal players.

Earlier cricket coach S Kumar of NCC, told Deccan Herald, “When I first took up the job to coach these boys, the first few days were so difficult that I was about to throw my hands up in defeat. I then took it up as a challenge to coach the boys who picked up so fast the nuances of the game.”

It needs a lot of patience to work with the mentally retarded, as they need constant prodding and encouragement. However, the daily practise has kept them so interested that as the tournament is approaching they themselves pitch the wickets and start practising, he said.

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(Published 19 December 2012, 18:31 IST)

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