In India, disabled athletes protest discrimination, hold sit-in

From The Indo-Asian News Service:

A group of disabled athletes and activists from across the country have announced an indefinite sit-in from August 10 alleging discrimination against disabled sportspersons. The sit-in will be held outside Sports Minister MS Gill's residence.

"We want answers for several discrepancies. Why was the Arjuna award denied to Prasant Karmakar when he was clearly a better disabled athlete than Jagseer Singh? Why was the Dronacharya Award not given to Ramesh Tikaram, coach for badminton and athletics who is a disabled person," asked Javed Abidi, convenor of the Disabled Rights Groups (DRG).

Talking about the "gross neglect" meted out to disabled athletes and sportspersons in the upcoming Commonwealth Games (CWG), where Rs 13 crore was earmarked for disability sports but was not used for the disabled, the group wants the minister to answer their queries.

"Recently six sportspersons were appointed as brand ambassadors for the CWG but no disabled athlete was selected. Disability sports are now an integral part of CWG since Melbourne 2006. As many as 45 medals will be at stake under disability sports. The minister can't neglect disability sports like this," added Abidi.

The group will gather at Mother Teresa road at 11 a.m. Tuesday and proceed to the sports minister's residence.