Pakistan

Special olympics: 2,300 athletes arrive in South Korea for global event

The eight-day event will see athletes from 110 countries competing in various disciplines.

Afp January 31, 2013 Less than a minute read

Seven Asian nations including Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam will take part in the event for the first time.

SEOUL:

Around 2,300 mentally disabled athletes have gathered in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang for the opening of the 2013 Special Winter Olympics today.

The eight-day event will see athletes from 110 countries competing in various disciplines. Seven Asian nations including Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam will take part in the event for the first time.

The chairwoman of the organising committee, Na Kyung-Won, said she hoped the event would mark a sea change in the way Korean society views the mentally disabled. “Society doesn’t improve gradually,” she said. “Instead, events drastically change the world we live in. This Olympics will make such a miracle happen.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2013.