by Umar Mukhtar

Srinagar

Jammu and Kashmir’s mixed wheelchair Basketball teams Saturday left for Mohali Punjab to participate in the sixth Wheelchair Championship to be held from June 24to June 29, 2019.

It is the fifth time the para-team will be participating in the event. The team that came into existence in 2014 participated in the national event first time in 2015.

Jammu and Kashmir’s mixed wheelchair Basketball team

The team bus was waived off from Shafqat Rehabilitation Centre in Bemina Srinagar. The players were excited as the bus left for Punjab. It will take them over a day to reach their destination.

The members suffer from a wide range of physical disabilities but for them, that is not an excuse. The team was put together by a health NGO—Voluntary Medical Society where these players would go for treatment. VMS, a charity runs a huge infrastructure for specially-abled children in Srinagar. According to their coach Shahid Raza the idea of starting the team was to help these disabled persons stay away from stress. Raza is hopeful that the team will do well in the national championship.

The team comprised of 14 special basketball players using wheelchairs.  There are 9 males and 5 females. Of these 14 special basketball players using a wheelchair, only two were born specially-abled. All others lost the capacity in different accidents. A total of 32 teams are participating in the event from all over India.

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