Olympians Shiva Thapa, KT Irfan and MR Poovamma would be running as volunteers with the visually impaired school children at the Coca-Cola Salwan Cross Country Run on November 10 at the Army Equestrian Centre here.

Apart from running alongside visually impaired children, Shiva Thapa, Irfan and Poovamma would also promote and emphasize upon the tenets of Salwan Cross Country Run — to encourage clean and fair sports at the grassroots level.

This year’s edition of Salwan Cross Country Run would witness participation by more than 1700 visually impaired and differently-abled schoolchildren, all of whom would be running with a volunteer to aid them during the race.

All the three Olympians, who would be running as volunteers, are under the aegis of Anglian Medal Hunt Company, a venture that seeks to nurture talent in the arena of Olympic sports and beyond.

From a humble beginning of 300 students running in the year 1995, the race saw participation from 48000 students from 800 schools across India along with 1800 visually impaired, 200 intellectually challenged children running in 2012.

The participants and winners across each category underwent a dope and age verification test at the 18th edition of the Salwan Cross Country Run last year, with an objective to promote principles of fair play and protection of the athlete’s right to compete in a fair and drug free competition — an initiative that would be strictly enforced this year also.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News> by Press Trust of India / New Delhi – October 20th, 2013