Special Olympics Bharat organises sports meet for the differently abled in Pelling

GANGTOK, 29 Jan: Special Olympics Bharat [SOB], Sikkim Chapter, the Nodal Agency for conducting sports meets for the differently abled, is conducting the sports for all communities viz. SOB-differently-abled person, PCI, Paralympics Committees of India-Orthopedically Challenged and Visually Challenged person, and person with Hearing and Speech Impairment, at Pelling SSS Ground from 28 - 31 January 2013.
Events will be held in the disciplines of five-a-side Football, Athletics, Badminton and Bocce. A press release informs that SOB will conduct the Community Coaches Training (CCT Level I) Programme for the local level Volunteer/ Coaches on 28 January to identify athletes in the community. The games will begin from 29 January.
The main purpose of the programme is to motivate and identify talents among the differently-abled communities as sports is the only means towards mainstreaming these people, the release states.
Selected athletes will be sent to represent the state in the 3rd National Games scheduled to be held either in Jharkhand or Delhi later this year.
The participants are advised to bring warm clothes, sports gears and the accommodation is arranged in the Girls Hostel. The participants will be supplied with T-Shirts, Medals, Certificate and TA along with food and accommodation, the release adds.

Advance Coaches Training Prog by SOB Sikkim Chapter begins at Paljor Stadium

ANUSHA GURUNG
GANGTOK, 11 Sept: A seven-day Advance Coaches Training Programme in football, athletics and volleyball is being held here at Paljor Stadium from 10 -16 September, which is organized by Special Olympics Bharat [SOB], Sikkim Chapter and sponsored by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.
Addressing a press conference today, SOB Sikkim Area Director, Dr BP Dhakal briefed about the Sikkim Chapter of SOB which started in the year 2005. “Special Olympics Bharat is an organization which aims to empower differently-abled children through sports”, said Dr Dhakal.
Dr Dhakal also appealed to the coaches to keep the flame of Special Olympics alive. The first agenda of the coaches should be service, he said.
“We are here for a noble cause to promote the vast area of Special Olympics through the medium of sports by organizing this Advance Coach Training Programme in these 3 disciplines; football, athletics and volleyball”, said Asia Pacific Coach, NK Chettri.
This 7-day training will cover orientation, basic rules and Panchayat Yuva aur Khel Krida Abhiyan [PYKKA] scheme for all the disabilities. This will also include the aims and objectives of project ‘Unify’ wherein some schools will be involved. “This is the new chapter we are adding this time”, said Mr Chettri.
He further informed that they are also thinking of adopting the Game Management System. GMS (Games Management System) is a database program designed to manage and record registration data, games, events, entries, divisioning, scores, and reports of a sport event. The software is especially useful for the purposes of running meets in individual sports involving timed events as it handles the process of divisioning automatically and without need for manual calculation and provides comprehensive reporting of results for athletes, coaches and spectators.
The training programme, which started yesterday, has a total number of 50 participants from Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and also from Bhutan. During the formal inaugural function, Mr Chettri also thanked the Sports and Youth Affairs Department for providing them with various facilities.
Chief guest, Chairperson [Sikkim Olympic Bharat] Manita Pradhan welcomed all the coaches who have come from different states, representatives from Bhutan as well as the resource persons.
It is a difficult task to guide someone with a disability and the coaches play a vital role in guiding as well as training the differently-abled athletes, said Ms Pradhan.
“Special Olympics is not just an event these days but it has become a movement and we are trying to get other sections of the society to join this movement”, said Ms Pradhan.
Mentioning that the ratio of coaches and athletes is 1:6 she said that now coaches from PYKKA can also be brought in for this purpose. PYKKA aims to promote sports at the village level amongst both the differently-abled and normal persons, she added.
Ms Pradhan further urged all the coaches to dedicate themselves towards the cause during the training. She also highlighted that more women should be encouraged to participate in the Special Olympics Sikkim Chapter.
Also present on the day were Arjuna Awardee Jaslal Pradhan, Deputy Director Sports Department Ram Biswakarma, Deputy Director Sports Department Thupden Bhutia, Treasurer CP Dhakal and Coach Ram.

Sikkim chapter of Special Olympics Bharat bags Excellence Award

GANGTOK, 09 Sept: Special Olympics Bharat, Sikkim Chapter, received an Award of Excellence for its participation in the Advanced Coaches Training Programme at the Annual Area Director Meeting held at Delhi from 04-06 September.
A press release further informs that Special Olympics Bharat, Sikkim, is organizing the Advanced Coaches Training Programme for East & North East Region in Athletics, Volleyball and Five-a-side Football from 10 - 16 September. Coaches from Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, host State Sikkim and Buddy Nation Bhutan as an observer will be taking part.
The inaugural function will be held on 11 September and the valedictory function will be held on 15 Sept where the participating coaches will be awarded certificates as per merit, the release mentions. The programme is sponsored by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt of India.

State’s special athletes haul 17 medals at National Games

GANGTOK, 09 Mar: Special athletes from the state who had participated in the National Games for all disabilities held during 17-22 February at Nehru Stadium, Chennai have made the state proud with their performance at the Games.
The team of 17 special athletes and 6 coaches from Special Olympics Bharat [SOB], Sikkim was led by State Coach, Ram Prasad Dhakal, informs a press release. Unfortunately, athletes from Special School for Deaf and Dumb, Sichey missed out on the opportunity as no teachers were available to escort them, the release mentions.
The special athletes participated and won medals in various disciplines like bocce, badminton, 100 M, 200 M Race and shot-put. From the Spastics Society of Sikkim, Manish Dhakal, Shourya Sikhwal, Pawan Rai, Arati Chettri, Pema Gurung and Shibu Chettri won medals for the state. From the National Association for the Blind, Shiva Kumar Chettri, Madan Chettri, and from Sikkim Vikalanga Sahayata Samiti, Pempa Tamang won medals for the state.

Sikkim hauls 5 golds at ongoing National Games for all disabilities

GANGTOK, 20 Feb: The Sikkim contingent has been performing well so far at the ongoing National Games for all disabilities at Chennai which started on 17 Feb and is scheduled to conclude on 22 Feb.
A press release informs that Special Olympics Bharat, Sikkim, as a Nodal agent, by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, for sports for all disabilities had sent 25 participants from SOB, All India Sports Council for Deaf (AISCD) and Paralympics Committees of India (PCI) to take part in the National Games.
In athletics, Pema Gurung and Shibu Chettri bagged the gold and silver medal, respectively while in bocce [individual] Sourya Sikhwal and Manish Dhakal bagged the gold and silver medal, respectively, the release informs.
In badminton, Arati Chettri and Pawan Rai bagged the gold medal in mixed doubles while Arati Chettri bagged the bronze medal in girls’ singles.
In PCI- Visually Impaired category, Dhurba Pradhan won gold in 100m Race, Madan Chettri won gold in 100m Race and silver in 200m Race while Shiva Kr Chettri won silver in 100m Race, the release mentions.
All together the team has participated in Athletics, Bocce, Badminton and five-a-side football, the release adds. The team is led by State Coach, SOB/Special Educator, MR, RP Dhakal.

Coaches training by Special Olympics Bharat concludes

GANGTOK, 22 Jan: The valedictory function of the Advance Coaches Training Programme on softball and athletics was held yesterday here at Paljor Stadium indoor gymnasium.
Fifty-five participants from East and North-East India had taken part in the training, which was organized by the Special Olympic Bharat, [SOB] Sikkim Chapter from 17 January.
On the occasion, former skipper of the Indian football team and co-owner of United Sikkim Football Association, Bhaichung Bhutia was announced as the Brand Ambassador of SOB Sikkim Chapter by the Sports Minister, NK Pradhan.
The Sports Minister, who was present as the chief guest, congratulated SOB Sikkim for making its presence felt in the state by bagging international medals including its other activities.
He stated that coaches have tremendous responsibility in guiding the youth towards the productive and positive direction and in enhancing the player’s skills further.
The Minister stated that to make a strong state and country the people have to be strong so great responsibility lies in the coaches to motivate youngsters through value-based and welfare training.
Bhaichung Bhutia expressed that to train special children was a tough and noble job. He added that the coaches are doing an important job in supporting special children and bringing them into the mainstream through sports.
In his welcome address, SOB Sikkim Area Director, Dr BP Dhakal, mentioned about the various achievements and activities of SOB Sikkim. He informed that after introducing softball in the state the organization will now develop a team to participate at the national level.
Programme Coordinator, NK Chettri, informed that the main objective of the training was to mobilize youth through sports and to introduce softball in the state. He stated that SOB Sikkim has been working in training special children by inculcating their talents and promoting them at the higher levels with the ultimate aim to bring them into the social mainstream.
The function concluded with the vote of thanks by SOB Sikkim Treasurer, CP Dhakal.

Training for coaches by Special Olympics Bharat

ANUSHA GURUNG
GANGTOK, 13 Jan: Special Olympics Bharat [SOB], Sikkim Chapter, is organizing an Advanced Coaches Training Programme [ACTP] in association with the SOB, New Delhi, from 17 to 22 January here at Paljor Stadium. The training programme is being sponsored by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
A total of 60 participants from 12 Eastern and North-Eastern states are expected to take part in the training. The training will be provided to coaches and active sportspersons on two disciplines - soft ball and athletics. The training will have resource persons from Delhi, Goa and North-Eastern states.
The main purpose of the ACTP is to train coaches in these two disciplines who will then be able to train special as well as main stream athletes. It was informed that soft ball is being introduced in Sikkim for the first time, so the other objective of the training programme is to train coaches and sportspersons in this new discipline.

40 special athletes shortlisted to represent Sikkim at National Games

GANGTOK, 11 Jan: Around 250 special athletes participated in the state-level Sports Competition for all Disabilities which concluded at Bhaichung Stadium and Indoor Gymnasium in Namchi yesterday.
The four-day competition organized by the Special Olympics Bharat [SOB], Sikkim Chapter, in athletics, badminton, bocce and five-a-side football had started on 07 January.
A SOB press release informs that forty athletes have been shortlisted in the state-level competition on the basis of their performance to represent Sikkim in the upcoming 1st National Games for all Disabilities scheduled to be held from 15 to 22 February at Chennai.
The valedictory function had Zilla Adhyaksha [South], Himal Tamang, as the chief guest, who was accompanied by Sports and Youth Affairs Joint Director [S/W], Kamal Chettri, SDM [Namchi], PB Yonzon, along with representatives from Sports and Youth Affairs, Govt. of India and officers from various government departments, Panchayats and parents.
Participants were provided with T-shirt, food, accommodation, medals, certificate and TA, the release adds.

Special Olympics begins 07 Jan

GANGTOK, 05 Jan: Special Olympics Bharat [SOB], Sikkim Chapter, has announced that the State Games for all disabilities in Athletics, Bocce, Badminton and Five-a-Side Football will be organized from 07 to10 January at Bhaichung Stadium and Indoor Gymnasium at Namchi.

2012 to begin with sports competitions for the differently-abled

GANGTOK, 07 Dec: Special Olympics Bharat [SOB], Sikkim Chapter, has been assigned as the nodal agency to conduct sports competitions for all disabilities in different disciplines in Sikkim by the PYKKA Mission Director, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.