After participating in the first floorball preparatory camp last month, three special athletes are geared up for the second and final training stint before they proceed to try their luck in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh in March.

Special Olympics Jharkhand (SOJ) has lined up the second preparatory camp at JRD Tata Sports Complex from February 25 to March 3. The intellectually impaired players Sital Sikka, Rakesh Bagh (both from East Singhbhum) and Rahul Kumar Sharma (Giridih) will be working under coach Abhiranjan Kumar (Ranchi) during the camp. The camp in Bilaspur will start on March 6.

SOJ assistant area director Satbir Singh Sahota said, “It will be the final camp before the special athletes and coach leave for Bilaspur to attend the national floorball preparatory camp for the Special Olympics World Winter Games to be held at Kaza, Russia from January 22 to 28 next year.”

"The special athletes had worked hard at the first camp organised by us in January. The upcoming training stint is important as the special athletes will be off to Bilaspur on March 5. Rakesh Baug, who injured his leg after a road accident, has recovered quite well. Though he (Rakesh) is still limping a little, we will send him to the national camp since we want all three to attend the exercise. After all, the Indian floorball team for the World Winter Games will be selected after the Bilaspur camp," Sahota, a former international cyclist added.

On the prospects of the three special athletes, the SOJ assistant area director said they were hopeful of a selection of two athletes. "Rahul Sharma is a promising floorball player and stands a chance of getting selected in the national squad. He is doing stretching exercise in Giridih and also working out with the hockey stick we presented to him when Rahul was in Jamshedpur for the first training camp. Rakesh has also shown promise but his injury has played spoilsport. Sital is also promising. It all depends on how our players perform during the national camp," said Sahota, a resource person (in cycling) with Special Olympics Bharat (SOB), a national organisation which promotes the intellectually impaired.

According to him, the SOB will organise more training camps for the selected players after the completion of the one in Bilaspur. "These camps will be held in different cities across the country. The effort is aimed at keeping the special athletes well-tuned before they leave for the World Winter Games," Sahota said.