FOR Bathmavathi Krishnan, being disabled does not stop her from participating in sports.
A former athlete in school, her world was shattered when she met with an accident 32 years ago. She then lost the ability to walk.
Gutsy: Malaysian Interfaith Network coordinator Dr John Gurusamy presenting the trophy and cash prize to Bathmavathi.
But a ray of hope appeared when wheelchair tennis was introduced in the early 80s and she saw the possibility of taking part in sports again.
“Besides keeping myself fit, sports gives me a sense of satisfaction and self-worth,” said the 53-year-old retiree.
Bathmavathi was among some 120 disabled people who participated in the Mini Sports For the Disabled 2007 at SJK (C) Puay Chai recently.
She bagged the first runner up trophy in wheelchair ping-pong (women's category).
The event, organised by Beautiful Gate Foundation For the Disabled and Malaysian Confederation of the Disabled, was aimed at providing an opportunity for the disabled from different races and backgrounds to interact and build friendships.
“It is also a way to boost the disabled people's confidence while challenging them physically and mentally through sports,” said Beautiful Gate Foundation executive director Pastor Sia Siew Chin.
Damansara Utama assemblyman Datuk Lim Choon Kin who was present at the prize giving ceremony said: “Although the disabled are physically handicapped, their ability to perform is sometimes better than the able-bodied.”
“This sports event is an encouragement to the disabled and also an eye-opener for the able,'' he added.
A total of four events – wheelchair ping-pong, wheelchair badminton, chess and lawn bowling – were held in the mini sports.
It was sponsored by SS2 food court, Pizza Hut, England Optical Group and Suan Huat Auto Corporation Sdn Bhd.
All this while I have heard about disabled mini sports held by Beautiful Gate in the past, but never ever see it myself. I am unable to imagine how a disabled people can involve in ping pong or badminton until I have seen it today.
Chinese and International Chess Competition 中国象棋与国际象棋比赛
May be you can imagine how a disabled people playing chess, but not sure if you can imagine how a blind people can play chess? In the chess competition, there are quite some blind chess players, they used their great memory and hand to move the chess.
Every move is a new move, there are a lot of turning point in our life, we will experience different moment each time, thus we shall not give up when we are facing difficulties, however, we shall expect a more glorious future.
Two months ago, I just got to know Wei Zhang, he was a shy boy and only smile at me while I talked to him. Later, I knew he reached the age to go to primary school, but his parent did not send him due to his disability.
Today, I met Wei Zhang again, he can speaks very fluent mandarin and become talkactive. I taught him how to use digital camera, he was very exciting and asked me to bring him around to take pictures. I can see that his learning curve has not been distort by his cerebral palsy, but better than the normal children.
Gutsy: Malaysian Interfaith Network coordinator Dr John Gurusamy presenting the trophy and cash prize to Bathmavathi.
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