US Consulate organizes sports diplomacy event with Special Olympians

KARACHI:  Consul General Grace Shelton welcomed Special Olympics Pakistan officials, Special Olympics athletes, and students to the Old Consul General Residence earlier today for the third in a series of Consulate sports diplomacy events this year. 

CG Shelton, Rizwan Mansoor, Secretary General of Special Olympics Pakistan and Daniyal Alvi, manager of Operations and Organizational Development, presided over the event involving 50 Special Olympic athletes and 30 students who all came together to play bocce, basketball and a 25-meter “assisted walk race.”

“Despite different abilities and skills, it is great to see these students work hard to achieve a common goal,” said CG Grace Shelton, speaking at the event.  “That effort reminds us all what is possible when we work together and remain committed to a common goal.”

The Special Olympics was founded in the 1950s by President John F. Kennedy’s sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver when she saw how unjustly and unfairly people with intellectual disabilities were treated.

The first international Special Olympic competition was held in Chicago in 1968 and since then has expanded to include over 100,000 events globally.