On penultimate day in Berlin, Indian contingent cross 150-medal mark

Berlin, June 25:  After a brief interlude, the sun rose and shone hard on Berlin on Sunday, the penultimate day of the Special Olympics World Games 2023. Special Olympics Bharat kept their medal march in step, and by the end of the day’s events on Saturday, Indian contingent had a whopping 157 medals -- 66 -Gold, 50 -Silver and 41- Bronze.

In what has become a regular theme, roller skating led the way for the contingent, bringing five medals home (2 gold, 3 silver). Among the gold medallists were Arayan (300m) and Deepen (1000m), who joined their peers at the top of the podium from the roller-skating arena.

While individual medals are always treasured and valued, winning medals at team sport, especially at the world games, carries with it a unique pride, one that cannot just be shared across but also provides energy to an entire contingent. As it was then, the day proved incredibly fruitful for many of India’s team event athletes, with Indian teams winning gold in basketball and volleyball.

Basketball in particular was almost an all-Indian ruled event. In the Men’s/Mixed 5x5 basketball India beat Portugal 6-3 to claim gold. The women’s 5x5 team themselves were in the final, but were beaten by Sweden to finish with a silver.

On the volleyball courts, India beat the Republic of Korea in the Men’s/Mixed volleyball 2-0 (25-19, 25-16) to take home the bronze medal, and end their campaign on a high. In the women’s unified team event, the team won gold, beating UAE in a brilliantly topsy-turvy encounter. It was always going to be a close encounter, and as a spectacle it did not disappoint. India edged the first game 25-22 before UAE rallied to eke out the second 25-19. From there it became a matter of who blinked first, with the teams trading point for point in the final set. India edged it 15-12 to take home the honours.  

After the postponement of the tennis finals, Saturday became the day when they were to be restaged. In the men’s singles Level 5, Swaraaj Singh lost to Tamas Torok to win silver in the event.

India also added a silver in the Female handball finals, losing to Azerbaijan in the finals.

In the Athletics, India’s relay teams were in action through the day, and the Men’s 4x100m team comprising of Gajendra Kumar, Baishnab Rajpalia, Saket Kundu and Rohan qualified for the finals, where they finished a brilliant fourth, just outside the medals, edged out by Canada by seven hundredths of a second.

The final day’s action will see India vie for medals in Athletics, lawn tennis and cycling before a grand closing ceremony closes the action in this edition of the Games.