AFZAL JAVED

ISLAMABAD: Special Olympics Pakistan (SOP) organized the colourful eight edition of Lakson Investments SOP Unified Marathon at Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Karachi to show solidarity with the special athletics of the society.

The marathon consisted of 21km marathon, 10km, 5km races and 1km unified walk in which a large number of People from different walks of life, representatives of educational, social, charitable, business institutions and organizations, foreign diplomats, seniors citizens, artists and athletes participated in different categories.

The wheelchair walk of special people was the focus of special attention of the participants while special athletes including the dumb, deaf and mentally challenged special people also made their presence felt in the marathon.

Special Olympics Pakistan ambassador Sarwat Gilani and musician Faisal Kapadia also participated in the event to show solidarity with the special people.

President and CEO Faysal Bank Yousaf Hussain was the chief guest of the concluding ceremony along with the Chairperson of Special Olympics Pakistan Ronak Lakhani distributed prizes and medals among the successful participants as cash prizes of Rs 15,000 to the first position winners, Rs 10,000 to the second position and Rs 5,000 to the third position winners were awarded.

On this occasion, Yousaf Hussain announced the sponsorship of five national team players by Faysal Bank for the Special Olympic World Games to be played in Berlin, Germany from 17 to 25 June this year.

The SOP chairperson Ronak Lakhani also expressed her gratitude to the participants and organizers of the marathon and vowed to organize the marathon next year with more enthusiasm.