Special Olympics World Games: Indians off to strong start in Berlin

After the glamourous and thrilling opening ceremony, the first day of the Special Olympics World Games kicked off on Sunday (June 18) with a lot of fanfare, with various events spread out throughout the city of Berlin, Germany. The Indian contingent participated in events across 14 out of 16 sports.

The biggest performances of the day came from swimming, where 11 out of 12 Indian athletes qualified for the semi-finals in their respective categories of 25m freestyle, 25m breaststroke, and 50m breaststroke. Also, four Indians qualified for the semi-finals in athletics.

The Indian men’s and women’s football teams also competed in the group stages of 7-a-side matches. While the men’s side earned a draw against St. Lucia, the women’s team managed to eke out a win over Israel.

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Earlier in the day, Special Olympics announced the formation of the Global Leadership Coalition for Inclusion, a pioneering multilateral effort to support people with intellectual disabilities.

For the first time, governments, industry, philanthropy and the development community came together with a shared global commitment to increase inclusive practices in education and sport and create more inclusive schools and communities.

Over the next three years, coalition members have committed to expanding inclusive sports and education opportunities to over 2,000,000 young people in more than 150,000 schools and scaling Special Olympics programming to 180 nations.

The discussions between Special Olympics Bharat and the Ministry of Education in India are already underway to introduce the Inclusive format of Sports in schools and colleges.

The second day of action will see several more events take place through the course of the day, with medal rounds expected to begin on June 20.

Modi’s wishes for Indian contingent

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday wished the Indian contingent at the Special Olympics World Games, saying “We are proud of every athlete representing us at the games”.

“As the Special Olympics World Games commence in Berlin, my best wishes to the Indian contingent,” Modi said in a tweet.

“We are proud of every athlete representing us at the games. May they shine brightly through their spirit, determination and resilience,” he said.

As the Special Olympics World Games commence in Berlin, my best wishes to the Indian contingent. We are proud of every athlete representing us at the games. May they shine brightly through their spirit, determination and resilience. pic.twitter.com/oKVNbeaHO5

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 18, 2023

About Special Olympics & Special Olympics Bharat

Special Olympics Bharat is a National Sports Federation accredited by Special Olympics Inc. USA, to conduct sports and for the development of programmes all over India. Special Olympics is a global inclusion movement using sport, health, education, and leadership programs every day around the world to end discrimination against and empower people with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics Bharat is recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India as a National Sports Federation for the development of Sports for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities. It is incumbent to inform that Special Olympics and Paralympics are separate entities wherein the former reaches out to Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and, the latter to those with physical challenges. SO Bharat has over 1.5 million Athletes registered across all the States and Union Territories of India.