New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) In her first international meeting in capacity as the President of the Paralympic Committee of India, Deepa Malik met virtually with Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) President Majid Rashed who assessed the current situation in the country owing to COVID-19 pandemic.
Malik, a former silver medallist at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, met with Rashed on the second day of the series of meetings held by APC with several National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) in the region.
The meeting, which was also attended by APC CEO Tarek Souei, was aimed at learning the current situation, in regard to the Paralympic Movement in the Asian countries and how athletes and NPCs were coping with the coronavirus crisis.
It also included discussion on how the para-athletes were being treated by the respective governments.
“It was quite an interesting meeting. Nice to have this kind of bonding with our Asian federation and its officials. The discussion reflected the mood of the region; that everyone is in the same boat and facing the same situation and, finding a solution together to overcome it,” Malik was quoted as saying in the statement.
“The meeting was more about giving the APC President an update about what was happening in regard to the Paralympic Movement in the country; how our athletes are dealing with this difficult time and measures taken by NPC India.”
The former paralympian, who took up the reigns of PCI earlier this year, also said the main point shared by her at the meeting was how NPC India was focusing on the educational programs like webinar sessions to educate its athletes.
“I also informed them that the mood of the Indian government was very positive as we had the Sports Authority of India playing a major role in conducting PCI’s 14-day webinar sessions. The sports ministry’s Target Podium Scheme has also included many Para athletes in their list, thus offering our excellence pool adequate support,” Malik said.
She also updated the APC officials about how the Indian para-athletes were becoming “digitally-savvy” through these webinars and online programs, which also had topics like sports nutrition and high performance besides parasport classifications.
–IANS
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