“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records,” William Arthur Ward once said.
Drawing utmost inspiration from the aforementioned quote, 89 special Olympians from India returned home with 37 gold medals, 10 silver medals and 26 bronze medals from the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2017 held in Austria.
India’s sports stars – boxer Mary Kom, shuttler Saina Nehwal and shooter Heena Sidhu came together at an event in the capital to felicitate the special athletes, who displayed tremendous strength, grit and courage in eight events of the Winter Games.
Five-time World Amateur Boxing Champion and 2012 London Bronze medalist MC Mary Kom hailed them, saying, “You make us feel proud. It’s just the beginning, keep fighting hard.”
The 34-year-old pugilist boxer said that the Special Olympics athletes have marvelous potential within themselves that is still to be realised completely.
“We can’t even think of what they have done,” former World No.1 badminton player Saina Nehwal added, referring to the wonderful haul of 73 medals.
“Olympics is the dream of an athlete and an Olympic medal is the crowning glory. These special athletes have made the nation proud,” Saina said.
Current World No.8 is scheduled to play the Indian Open badminton tournament starting Tuesday.
Saina expressed how helpless she could feel fighting against the knee injury that she sustained during the 2016 Rio Olympics, adding that “watching these special kids doing wonders amid adversities motivate” her a lot.
Heena Sidhu, India’s first shooter to top ISSF rankings, also praised the struggle and journey of the special athletes, saying: “Your journey must be harder than ours.”
“Special Olympics have been gaining visibility and momentum over the years. What these athletes need more right now is the encouragement, support and recognition by the public,” the 27-year-old air pistol added.