Ludhiana: The BCCI may have won accolades for organising IPLs and gained a reputation for being the richest cricket board in the world, but it turns out to be indifferent when it comes to adopt the visually and hearing impaired and the physically challenged as they fail to organise tournaments for them.

National coach of the cricket team of the deaf, Nitendra Singh, said it was the case of “chirag tale andhera” (darkness below the lamp). He said: “The BCCI may be the richest of the cricket boards in the world, but unlike the boards of other countries, it has been keeping away from adopting, supporting and organising tournaments for people with disabilities.”

He said he has been teaching cricket to the hearing impaired children for the past 20 years. “These children have much higher potential than normal children in sports as they learn very fast because they don’t get distracted. They learn everything with total concentration. I have developed a special sign language to teach them,” he said.

He said while the BCCI gives all support and facilities to normal U-12 children and make them stay in four-star hotels, there was hardly any support for the persons with disabilities. “While the government has entrusted the BCCI with the responsibility to take care of cricket as a sport, it is their responsibility to adopt the physically challenged, hearing or visually impaired players as well,” he said. It is ironical that the boards of other countries like Australia, New Zealand, England, and even Pakistan and Afghanistan were supporting such players, but the richest cricket board in the world was indifferent to them.

He said Punjab’s children were genetically blessed in terms of sports, so the hearing impaired children from Punjab could do wonders in cricket. He said the state must make efforts in propelling them into the game.

Not just hearing impaired boys, girls, too, need to come up and play the sport, he felt. For this, he was going to organise a 21-day national camp for them in Gujarat.

Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/ludhiana/community/bcci-should-adopt-players-with-disabilities-also-coach/361558.html