Despite odds, Rajvir to debut in spl sports meet

Our Correspondent

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 17

Fifteen-year-old Rajvir Singh of Sihar village in Payal subdivision is set to participate in the World Sports for Children with Special Needs to be held in the United States of America from July 25 to August 2.

Rajvir, who spends maximum time with his bicycle, is eying the top position in cycling in the mentally-ill category, while his teachers, coach and poor parents, who are labourers, are busy making arrangements for his journey. Coach Harjit Singh, who had been looking after the Centre for Children with Special Needs at Sihar since its establishment in 2010, said: “Rajvir was selected for the event on the basis of his performance in training camps held at Bareilly, Jaipur and Kurukshetra.”

“Not only this, he has brought laurels to his village and the region by winning several prizes in the state as well as national-level games besides achieving frontier position in local and regional sports fairs. He was declared the winner and a runner-up in the 5 km and 2-km cycling race in his category in 2014 National Sports for Children with Special Needs held at Bhopal. Earlier, Rajvir emerged victorious during 2013 National Sports held at Sangrur in his native state,” he said.

Rohit Kalra, a sports lover in Ludhiana had presented him with a specially designed cycle for practice.

Maintaining that all arrangements for his safe journey had already been made, district coordinator Gulzar Shah said the project had been sponsored under the Sarav Shiksha Abhiyaan of the Centre.