Happy faces return

They may be challenged, but there was no shortage of enthusiasm among the intellectually challenged athletes when they returned home yesterday morning with 18 gold, 22 silver and 14 bronze medals from the Special Olympic Games which concluded in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The winners of the gold medals could hardly express their feelings in words at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. However, the expressions on their faces spoke of the delight of taking part in such a global sporting event and returning home with such success. 

“The girls and boys enjoyed the Games much and they performed really brilliantly.,” said Faruqul Islam, head of delegation of the Bangladesh contingent. 

Bangladesh had won 31 gold medals in the 2011 Greece Special Olympics, but this time they the gold tally decreased drastically. Islam gave the explanation for this dip.

“The quotas for Bangladesh have been reduced in the 2015 edition. This time only 77 athletes participated in only six events. If we could bring more athletes, the medal tally could have been bigger,” said Islam, who is also the national director of Special Olympics Bangladesh.

Islam informed that the intellectually challenged children are being groomed in 300 special schools across the country and they scout these players in October-November each year before providing them with further training under different coaches.