Twelve Bulgarian athletes with five trainers will take part in the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai from October 2-11. Shanghai will bring together about 10 000 athletes and trainers from more than 160 countries and regions. The Special Olympics were established in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver to provide children and adults with intellectual disabilities with the opportunity to be trained and take part in Olympic sporting events.
Bulgarian team members are aged from 10 to 32, from 11 different cities. Pavlina Urdarska and Hrabar Natov will compete in the swimming events.
Anna Krasteva, Burhan Sali, Mihail Georgiev and Desislava Yaneva are the track-and-field hopefuls, Yoummyou Halil and Alexander Kenanov will take part in the badminton, Tanya Kostova and Nikolay Panayotov – bocce balls, Tsvetelina Viktorova and Boris Russalov – table tennis.
The team however had difficulties funding its preparations. A total of 26 600 leva had been donated, but 36 000 leva is necessary for equipment and training. The modest help came from people and municipalities with no significant resources but it also emerged that 240 invitations had been sent to members of Parliament but with no financial response. The national information campaign to convey the achievements of the Bulgarian Special athletes will run from September 26 until October 15 and money can be donated during this period.
