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What's the story?
In a sad turn of events for the development of Indian sports, the U-19 Indian Cerebral Palsy Football team, which had qualified for the World Games in Spain later this year had to return back home owing to a lack of funds and sponsors.
The competition, which is slated to kick-start later this month at the Sant Cugat del Valles in Spain will be contested over a week and play host to 23 countries, apart from India.
In case you didn't know...
The CPISRA Games, an event that is held for the athletes who are diagnosed with cerebral palsy will be held from the 6th - 12th August at the Sant Cugat del Valles in Spain and will involve various disciplines including football, athletics, swimming, table cricket amongst others.
The heart of the Matter
With the 2018 CP World Games fast approaching, the young team was set on practising for the major tournament until they were hit by a major blow that will see them returning back disappointed as they will not be travelling to Spain this year.
Now with the young footballers out of contention for the tournament, the other athletes, who come under the wings of the Indian Sports Federation of Cerebral Palsy will be taking part in two other disciplines, Para-Athletics and Para-Swimming and are pitted against some strong teams from England, Australia etc.
Recently, the 14th National Para Championship for Cerebral Palsy was held in the Patliputra Sports Complex, Patna which saw athletes coming in from all over the country and trying their hand at the competition, which also doubled up as a selection trial for the 2018 World Games.
The domestic trials witnessed a buzz of athletes who arrived in Patna to participate in the men's and women's category in various athletics disciplines.
What's next?
The unfortunate issue that affected the U-19 football team is sure to hit the Sports Ministry hard as they will now need to put in efforts to ensure that such incidents do not repeat in the future and that the athletes are provided with the required facilities and support to put in their best effort in any tournament they represent the country in.
