Webinar on Lockdown Home Workout for Visually Impaired Athletes

Speaker: Dr. Satyapal Singh (Dronacharya Awardee, Chief Coach of IBSA)

Dr. Satyapal Singh began his presentation by pointing out the problems faced by the para athletes especially the blind athletes for whom it is impossible to do sports without using their sense of touch and feel.

He gave an introduction to para-sports and the classification of Para-Olympic summer and winter sports. He explained about the IPC Classification system that provides a structure for competition for people with impairments to ensure fair competition where winning is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus, the same factors that account for success in sport for able-bodied athletes. Classification is sport specific because an impairment affects the ability to perform in different sports in different extents. As a consequence, an athlete may meet the criteria in one sport, but may not meet the criteria in another sport.

He shared the classification coding which is T11-13 for visual impairment. The World Para Athletics classification system serves two key purposes:

1. Determining eligibility – The system defines who is eligible to compete in World Para Athletics competitions.
2. Sport Class Allocation – The system describes methods for dividing eligible athletes into sport classes. The aim is that each class should consist of athletes who have impairments that cause approximately the same amount of activity limitation in the key athletic disciplines – running, wheelchair racing, jumps and throws.

Dr Satyapal provided a daily schedule for the athletes to follow during the lockdown as well as a specific routine for the visually impaired athletes along with a diet plan. He provided information on the various sporting events that take place in India as well as worldwide for the para-athletes to participate. He motivated the athlete viewers by giving a list of plethora of medals won by Para-Olympians from India. Ankur Dhama, Arjuna Awardee and the first visually impaired athlete to participate in Olympics shared his personal experience on the same lines.

Towards the end of the session, participants from Zoom and YouTube presented their questions to the speakers. The webinar ended with a note of thanks by Mr. Ramdas Shivhare, Member, IBSA.