November 28 to 4th December 2013, I.R. Iran celebrated 6th National Paralympic Week Festival in Tehran and in other provinces. In this glorious ceremony organized by I.R.I NPC, more than 40000 boys & girls with disability participated in cultural, social and sports events.
According to I.R. Iran NPC Public Relations, the mentioned festival aimed to create happiness & exhilaration, dynamism, and providing motivation within disabled society and their families, in different cities and encouraging them toward sport activities.
In London 2012, Iranian Para athletes extolled their place to 11th place and bagged 10 gold medals, 7 silver, and 7 bronze in these Games.
The performance of Iranian women was appraisable; saving 1 gold, 2 bronze, proving they have a special position to improve Iran sport status in Paralympics.
I.R.Iran NPC officials believe that holding such specialized ceremonies for the disabled can play an effective role to promote Para sport in the country and this festival was one of the organized plans to achieve this goal.
During the National Paralympic Week supported by Agitos Foundation, athletes tried to introduce and promote sports for the disabled in Schools, Universities, and Media and even among the families.
Also, they underscored the rights of the people with disabilities and developing the concept of “Sport for All”.
In Tehran, this great festival was held in Azadi Sport Complex and more than 8000 children with different kinds of disabilities with their families attended in this memorable event.
Embracing the festival by the youth showed that staging such public programs can not only cause the promotion of sport for the disabled but also can pave the path for identifying talents for building up the national teams for the future.
Sir Philip Craven the IPC President and Mr. Wilfred Lemke the UN Special Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace sent their messages that were delivered during the Festival.
It is worth to mention that in the special ceremony held in Khorasan Razavi Province, along with the Iranian children with disabilities, the Afghani refugees also found the opportunity to attend the ceremony that was highly welcomed by the Special UN Envoy in this Province and the Afghan consulate based in Mashhad.
In the end, I.R. Iran NPC takes the opportunity and wishes that in the near future all the people with disabilities especially the youth can find the chance to attend such ceremonies in their own countries and be involved in sport act.
