Noida– Ankush Kumar, a 21-year-old with an intellectual disability and speech-impaired will now represent our country India in the 2023 Berlin Special Olympics World Games. His journey hasn’t been easy, had to overcome family pressure, depression and isolation. But now, he is among 177 athletes suffering from intellectual disabilities from India joining hands at Noida’s Amity University to prepare themselves for Special Olympics World Summer Games to be held in June 2023 in Berlin, Germany.
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Another athlete is Ankush Kumar from Sadatpur, Delhi loved to play handball and football since his teenage days. But around 5-4 years ago, he convinced his parents to let him follow his passion to play football. By 15, Ankush was diagnosed with a disability and took days to convince and accept the disability by his parents. They knew their child is different but didn’t know it was a disability, stated by Kumar’s coach Ravinder Saini.
Ankush met his coach when he was a student at Army Public School in Delhi. “Ankush used to attend regular school but faced difficulties in academics. This had made him extremely depressed as he could not make many friends and I often saw him crying in school. However, he was always an overperformer on the field. His grasp on football and handball was exceptional. As I started training him, he started finding a purpose in sports and got better with time,” said Saini. Ankush initially was very timid but with time he polished his skills and started playing many inter-state along with national level handball tournaments, Saini further added.
“In 2019, his parents were finally convinced to let him play further. He also completed his Class 12 board exams during the same time. In 2021, he got selected to represent India at the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023,” he added.
