THE African premiere of a documentary that focuses on the blind chess players of India screened in the closing week of the Durban International Film Festival (Diff) and drew much interest in this community.
Algorithms was shot over three years and follows Charudatta Jadhav, a cham- pion chess player from Mumbai, who now mentors younger players and is championing their cause to become world- class blind chess players.
A chess championship for the blind started off here Friday, proving that the visually impaired are just as talented as the privileged and promising exciting close finishes and hitherto unseen talent.
In its second edition, the All Bengal Chess Competition for the Blind, has drawn skilled chess players from several districts of the state to prove their mettle.
Fundraisers have smashed their target of raising £24,000 in 24 hours on July 24 for blind and visually-impaired families in Greenwich. SARAH TROTTER discovers more about the Great Greenwich Give campaign.
AFTER weeks of anticipation, July 24 finally arrived and the epic fundraising challenge began.
Blind 60-year-old Dr Tom Pey kicked-off proceedings by bravely scaling the colossal O2 to kickstart a 24-hour fundraising marathon for visually impaired families in Greenwich.
Fun and frolic marked the district-level sports meet for differently abled persons held at Anna Stadium here on Thursday.
Nearly 250 of them took part in the meet organised by the Tiruchi-unit of Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT). Collector Jayashree Muralidharan, who inaugurated the competition, said that such meets provided a platform for differently abled to showcase their skills. Taking part in sporting activities will help in overcoming stress, she said.
Para-athlete Devendra Jhajharia has created history by becoming the first differently-abled Indian to win a gold at the IPC Athletics World Championships as he bagged the yellow metal in javelin throw in the sixth edition of the event in Lyon, France.
Jhajharia, also a world record holder in the event which he created while winning gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics, hurled the javelin to 57.04m in F-46 category, meant for one-armed athletes, at the Rhone Stadium last night.
That only 1,500 out of the 5,000 registered blind or partially blind chess players in India are active due to poor access to specially designed chess-boards, was a constant cause of worry for Pankaj Athawle. Having witnessed the woes of visually challenged chess players for years, the 35-year-old sports commentator launched 'Vision 64' on Friday — an initiative to design and manufacture such boards for Indian players as per international standards.
The football team of the Society for Rehabilitation of the Visually Challenged (SRVC), who finished runners-up in the 8th IBSA National Blind Football Championship at New Delhi, was given a warm reception at the Ernakulam South Railway Station on Tuesday.
“The Caribbean island is mad keen on cricket and I know the idea of the game being played by blind and visually impaired players really grips people's imaginations”, said England blind cricket coach Andy Sellins.
West Indies cricket team have always enthralled cricket lovers all over world with their talent. Now, their blind cricket team will do the same. The England blind cricket team and former stars Desmond Haynes and Devon Malcolm assisted by the London Community Cricket Association will coach the West Indies’ first blind cricket team.
A special Friendship Day car rally for the blind was organised at Bangalore on August 7, 2005. The visually challenged acted as navigators to sighted drivers. They were given a predetermined route map, printed in Braille. The route had 44 curves which were noted on the map.
The rally covered a 70-km route from Bangalore Central to Nandi Hills.
People who knew nothing about climbing asked them, “Why?.” People who climb themselves asked, “How?”
“It’s the exhilaration of achieving something that few people have done. We felt the same exhilaration,” said Sam Atwood and Craig Kiser of Florida, USA, on having climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, at 19,340 feet, the highest peak in Africa.
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