The footballing skills of a number of visually impaired and blindfolded individuals came alive at a lively session held on Monday to mark the National Sport Day celebrations at Aspire Women's Hall. The event, hosted by Save the Dream, a Doha-based non-governmental forum, working for the uplift and rehabilitation of differently abled children, including those having visual problems.
The game was supported by the Qatar Financial Centre, Aspire Logistics, and Sasol among others and had scores of youth, both visually impaired and otherwise, taking part, representing four teams. The day's action mainly involved spot kicks by participants, using specially designed balls with jingles. Some blindfolded people, including those representing the companies and organisations that backed the event, joined the visually impaired on the wooden courts.
The organisers said besides demonstrating to the world that visually impaired are as capable and competent as others they also want to convey that there is enough space for all differently abled people in the world. The event was labeled as the "first ever football event in Qatar for the blind". One of the organisers said they hope to host matches of great magnitude in future so that the visually impaired and similarly abled children received more opportunities to show their abilities. He said they are now in the process of developing more customer-friendly programmes to suit the requirements of visually impaired people, especially children in Qatar.
The organisers also honoured the companies and institutions that supported the event with mementos.
