Bhubaneswar/ Berlin: For the first time in the history of the Special Olympics World Summer Games, athletes from Odisha bagged 8 medals and secured the 4th position bettering the 4 medals bagged in the last Games held in the UAE in 2019.
Aridita Chakraborty of OLS Bhubaneswar bagged the silver medal in the 400 mts race clocking 1:24.05. She missed the gold by a whisker on the concluding day of the event. She had earlier bagged the bronze in the shotput.
Baishnab Rajpalia of RSD Saintala, Bolangir, bagged the Silver medal in Shotput by throwing a distance of 8.44 mts. Kalpana Jena of BVMMMRBT, Athagarh, won a silver medal in the 2-km Time Trial event in cycling. Jyotiranjan Ojha of CBID, Nimapada, was a member of the bronze medal-winning SO Bharat Unified Volleyball team.
Shibani Priyadarshini and Mamali Nag of KIIT were in the bronze medal-winning unified beach volleyball teams of Bharat. While Sachin Barik from Saraswati Sangha, Barpali, was in the Futsal team of Bharat that took the 4th position, Jhasketan Sahu of ASRA, Bolangir, was the coach of the team. SO Bharat’s women’s basketball team bagged the silver medal under the coaching of Sasmita Routray from SAHAYA in Cuttack.
“It is a proud moment and a moment to savour and rejoice,” said Kasturi Mohapatra, President SOB-Odisha. “This should give our coaches the confidence to ensure participation of more and more athletes from various parts of the state, especially from the rural areas,” stated Arpita Mohapatra, internationally-acclaimed coach of Special Olympics.
Prakash Rath, Honorary Area Director, SOB-Odisha, lamented the lack of support from the government while acknowledging the grit, determination, and perseverance of the athletes and their coaches who go through a lot of hardships.
“Our athletes, coaches, and officials are treated like second-class citizens even though they bring more laurels to the state and the country than the general sportspersons. Their rights are not fulfilled,” said Rath.
