This year's Special Olympics World Games, while concluding in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, left the audience amazed, joyous, proud and eventually inspired!
Earning a whopping tally of 368 medals, athletes from India carved the day in history, scooping a total of 85 gold, 154 silver and 129 bronze medals. These medals were won across sports like powerlifting, badminton, cycling, golf, athletics, judo, volleyball, aquatics, table tennis, roller skating, basketball traditional, football 7-side female and handball traditional!
While powerlifters from India bagged 20 gold, 33 silver and 43 bronze medals, roller skaters grabbed a total of 49 medals–23 gold, 20 silver and 16 bronze. Cycling won Indians 11 gold, 14 silver and 20 bronze medals, and track and field athletes earned 5 gold, 24 silver and 10 bronze medals!
This was India's ninth year of participating at the event, and the first time to be a part of Judo and Futsal in the competition; and yet, the participants managed 3 gold, 1 silver and 7 bronze medals.
Each win brought with it a rush of overwhelming emotions, coupled with a strong sense of motivation–something that the stories of these athletes emanate in abundance!
Manali Manoj Shelke ,athletes, who showed the world what it truly takes to be a winner:
From a pool of more than 2,800 strong-willed women athletes, this young girl stood out, representing the true spirit of an athlete.
A powerlifter from Maharashtra, Manali attempted and failed to lift the weight three times. That was when her coach approached her and rallied the crowd to motivate her. With the audience rooting for her, the young athlete made another attempt and finally managed to lift the weight.