Source:
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/heres-a-sports-complex-with-a-vision/article8091282.ece
» Today's Paper » KERALA
KOCHI, January 11, 2016
Here’s a sports complex with a vision
Hiran Unnikrishnan
Chief Minister to inaugurate the first-of-its-kind facility for the
blind at Keezhmadu near Aluva on January 16
A view of the cricket ground on the School for the Blind campus at
Keezhmadu, near Aluva.- Photo: Thulasi Kakkat
A view of the cricket ground on the School for the Blind campus at
Keezhmadu, near Aluva.- Photo: Thulasi Kakkat
Mention the words ‘practice session’ and it conjures up image of
players in coloured clothes, photo-op for fans or the air of pre-match
excitement. And if you were at the cricket stadium near Aluva, which
currently hosts the practice sessions of a national team, your
applause would resound a lot louder when the players stepped on to the
ground.
For, this is a different class of the Indian cricket team, preparing
for the upcoming Asia Cup in Kochi at the sprawling ground at the
School for the Blind campus at Keezhmadu, near Aluva.
With neatly trimmed lush green grass and a deep brown pitch at the
centre, the stadium forms part of a sports complex — a
first-of-its-kind facility for the blind, in Kerala.
Chief Minister Ooommen Chandy is scheduled to inaugurate the facility
at a brief function to be held here on January 16.
The complex also marks the diversification of the school — a
pioneering institution in the rehabilitation of the visually impaired
— into sports promotion and management. As part of its foray into
sports, the school organised a south India-level chess tournament in
November last year, in which about 100 players from various States
took part.
According to the school management, the facility currently comprises a
50,000-sq. ft cricket stadium and a sports hostel with a capacity to
accommodate 80 persons.
“The objective is to draw talented blind sportsmen from all across the
country and give them training in their respective fields. We will
hold sport events and training sessions for them round the year,” said
T.S. John, secretary of the Kerala Blind School Society, which runs
the institution.
On completion, the complex will embrace separate facilities for
various other sports events such as volleyball, basketball and other
indoor games. Set up with assistance from various agencies, the
stadium cost around Rs.35 lakh while the state-of-the art sports
hostel was established by renovating an old building at the location.
Set up with eight students and one teacher in 1962, the school
currently accommodates 80 students and 25 teaching and non-teaching
staff. About 30 per cent of its students comprise those suffering from
multiple disabilities of vision.
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