CAMBODIA. A new wheelchair sports facility, which is included in programmes supported by companies in travel retail, has opened in Siem Reap.
The centre has been developed by non-governmental organisations XLability and The Soulcial Trust, which was founded by Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) Executive Officer Michael Barrett. It is supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
As reported, Swiss research agency m1nd-set and Indian distribution company Bommidala Group are supporting the charities’ mission to raise awareness of the many challenges people with disability face in developing countries such as India and Cambodia.
The new centre recently welcomed 20 people for a training session to teach the rules of wheelchair basketball, and basic methods to manoeuvre on the court. All players came from Siem Reap province, and most have a disability as a result of landmines or the polio virus.
Weekly training sessions take place on Friday evenings at the ICF Campus behind the Phum Baitang Hotel. Every two weeks, the ICRC will send players from a ladies’ wheelchair basketball team in Battambang to help train the Siem Reap players. The ICRC donated ten wheelchairs specifically designed for wheelchair basketball for the programme.
Participants at the first training session included members of local disability organisations Angkor Association for the Disabled, Khmer Independent Life Team (KILT) and Geneviève’s Fair Trade Village.
Soulcial Trust Programmes Director Genni Low said: “While this first training session is focused on wheelchair basketball, it is our hope that we can soon introduce other sports such as wheelchair rugby, tennis and volleyball.”
Soulcial Trust and XLability are also arranging a two-week visit by wheelchair rugby teams based in France and India to train the Cambodian players. The training will take place in November, and include a ‘classifier’ affiliated with the International Wheelchair Rugby Association, who will help with the training and classification of players. As part of the exchange programme, the wheelchair basketball players will also train the French and Indian rugby players on their discipline.
Soulcial Trust Director Michael Barrett added: “We are grateful to have this collaboration with the ICRC and the ICF which made this all possible. We welcome others to join us, whether it is an individual who is able bodied, or people with a disability, anyone interested in joining wheelchair sports can become a part of the game.”
Commenting on the opening session, KILT Director Muy Bel Seu said: “We practiced skills like dribbling a basketball, and at the end we had a match between the four different teams, which was the best part because we could put everything we learned to the test.”