KUWAIT: Kuwait Special Olympics concluded the young players’ program for the 2024-2025 season with the participation of 75 mentally challenged athletes from nine schools, nurseries and establishments in cooperation with Tomooh Sports Club, Kuwait Sports Club, Public Authority for Sport and Kuwait Sea Sport Club.

National Director of Kuwait Special Olympics Rihab Bouresli said the program is nine months long and represents full sports season and aims at qualifying entities that care for the mentally challenged on sports, behavioral and social skills, which helps prepare the young players to be sports leaders in the future.

She said the sports program also aims at training and teach sports skills to the mentally challenged children and the well to do starting from two to seven years old to qualify them for participating in the Special Olympics competitions when they reach the age of eight in order to include them in various sports.

Bouresli said Special Olympics is keen on building partnerships with various areas in and out of Kuwait as she pointed to signing a cooperation agreement with Kuwait Sea Sports Club as an extension to previous cooperations, the latest of which the first regional sailing championship in the UAE, where Kuwait won gold.

She pointed to the development of the Special Olympics programs since 2018 including the initiatives program for families, guardians, leaders and the health program which has nine various health aspects as well as the sports program. Bouresli lauded the role of Kuwait Sports Club which offered one of its halls to host the program’s conclusion. Chairwoman of Special Olympics Board, Treasurer of Tomooh Sports Club Hanaa Al-Zawawi said the program focuses on the development of various skills of the mentally challenged and help recognizing the sports they are having interest in, that in addition to working on their inclusion in the society specially with the participation of their well to do peers in activities and sports.

She said the program includes games such as football, basketball, crawling in tunnels, shotput, jumping and zig zag walking, adding that such activities contribute to improving their physical fitness and general health.

She said young athletes are the main bloc in building a sports generation that will keep Kuwait’s name in prominence regionally and internationally. Secretary General of Kuwait Sea Sport Club Khalid Al-Foudary said the Club’s wish to cooperate with Tomooh Sports Club, which is the official representative of Kuwait Special Olympics comes out of its keenness to support clubs and authorities that are interested in the disabled, adding that those athletes made outstanding achievements lately.

He said the cooperation treaty aims at qualifying the disabled to participate in sea sports next to the well to do athletes, and lauded their abilities they expressed during the first regional sailing championship, as well as their high fitness in the sailing and rowing sports. — KUNA