Chandigarh (Face2News)

First-ever Sports Carnival for persons on wheelchairs was held here today at Sukhna Lake. Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Banwarilal Purohit flagged off the event at Sukhna Lake Sports Complex. 

The event was organised by Chandigarh Spinal Rehab, Sector 28 here. Chandigarh Spinal Rehab is a non-profit organisation working for the empowerment of lives of persons facing severe disabilities caused due to spinal cord injury/ brain injury. The uniqueness of the event was that all participants had been given an opportunity to participate in all sporting activities. 

Wheelchair Archery Winners were Ashish Verma; 1st Runners-up Ved Prakash; 2nd Runners-up Sumit Thakur and Consolation Prize Kaushlya Devi. In Canoeing the VL I category (Men) the first three prize winners were Hari Krishan, Surender and Santosh Pandey. In VL II category (Men) top three winners include Manjeet, Ashish and Kumaran Shen. In Canoeing Women category the first, second and third prize winners were Reena, Asha and Bhawana 

Wheelchair Archery Winners were Ashish Verma; 1st Runners-up Ved Prakash; 2nd Runners-up Sumit Thakur and Consolation Prize Kaushlya Devi. In Canoeing the VL I category (Men) the first three prize winners were Hari Krishan, Surender and Santosh Pandey. In VL II category (Men) top three winners include Manjeet, Ashish and Kumaran Shen. In Canoeing Women category the first, second and third prize winners were Reena, Asha and Bhawana 

In Dragon Boat, first prize winning team included Apurva, Rajan, Amit Kumar and Shiv Ganga; second prize winning team included Avtar Singh, Rahul, Dilbagh Singh and Raman while third prize winning team included Man Mohan, Varun Kumar and Parmjeet Singh. 

In Fencing there were 3 categories foil, epee and sabre. The winning team in the first category included Krishna, Varun, Devinder and Reena, while in the second category winning team included Sumit, Ashish, Avtar and Dilbag while in the third category the winning team included Santosh, Shailesh, Ved Prakash and Rahul. 

Giving the information, Nicky P Kaur, Founder of Chandigarh Spinal Rehab said, “Participants from across the country participated in the event, including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. This was a unique event which will saw participation from over 50 wheelchair bound persons and included national boating and canoe racing championships for para-athletes, archery, fencing, javelin and a friendly kabbadi match.” 

“It is our constant endeavour to add dignity and joy to their lives, which is why we are organising such an event. Earlier such events included amputees but this is a first time event in the country where persons with such severe neurological conditions like the spinal cord injury who have limited trunk balance are participating in canoeing and dragon-boat racing”, she added.