Hyderabad boy overcomes challenges, wins Special Olympics medal

Hyderabad: Eighteen- year-old Harivansh Samanth Dantoor from Alwal won a Bronze medal in Special Olympics World Games held in Abu Dhabi recently. In January last year, Harivansh represented Telangana at national level Special Olympics that were organised at Ranchi, Jharkhand, and bagged gold.

His father Rajesh says "He is physically 18, his mental age is somewhere between 10 and 12 years. Because of which, the thought of his future always worried us. But he proved us all wrong by making a mark for himself; we have always stood by him and supported him in every situation. As a kid, he was very stubborn, we are grateful to Rajashekar, Director of Special Olympics Bharat, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh unit. He not only encouraged Harivansh but also convinced us to let him go."

Harivansh has difficulties in learning. He had to keep changing schools after which his disability was diagnosed. Later he was shifted to National Institution of Mentally Handicapped (NIMH) Asampet, where he recently passed Class VIII from National Open School.

Now he is undergoing vocational training under their DAIL programme at the institute and is learning all the essential life skills.

It's his teacher at NIMH that first has recognised his talent and love for cycling and encouraged him to pursue it further. "Every-day he comes to school on his cycle so, we thought we will encourage him, after the school we would let him practice on grounds and we encouraged him to take part in competitions" says Radha, Special Teacher. Diagnosed with mild mental retardation and epilepsy at the young age of eight, Harivansh says "Apart from cycling I am interested in cricket, badminton and dance. My aim is to participate in the Special Olympics Winter Games and try for a gold medal."