Students of the Society for Welfare of the Specially Abled, Patiala, have brought laurels to Punjab by winning the 4th National Deaf Women T-10 Cricket Championship held at Dehradun, Uttarakhand, this week.
The championship was organised by the All India Sports Council of the Deaf, a national apex body working for the welfare of deaf sportspersons. Teams from 14 states participated in the event, which was conducted under International Cricket Council and BCCI rules.
Representing Punjab, the team from Patiala School for the Deaf secured the first position and won the championship trophy along with five other prizes.
On their return to Patiala, the players received a warm welcome at the school campus. The Society for Welfare of the Specially Abled, established in 1967, currently runs three institutions at Saifdipur village, behind the campus of Punjabi University; the School for the Blind, Patiala; School for the Deaf and Patiala School for the Deaf-Blind. Around 455 specially-abled students from over 14 states are studying in these institutions, including nearly 350 hostellers.
The society stated that apart from academics, students have also excelled in sports at national and international levels, including Special Olympics.
Society treasurer Pawan Goyal said the institution would also prepare students for several upcoming national-level championships in athletics, swimming, badminton, football, basketball, volleyball, judo, karate, taekwondo and wrestling.
