The Special Olympics Bharat has appointed Avtar Singh, steel city's veteran mentor of intellectually impaired athletes, as regional co-ordinator for the north eastern states.

Singh, who, along with his wife Sukhdeep Kaur, runs a special school Jeevika in Sonari locality in Jamshedpur, will be responsible for channelising SOB's activities and train special athletes in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

The SOB is a national organisation which promotes intellectually-impaired individuals through sports.

The 72-year-old will visit the northeastern states once the Covid-19 situation improves. "I am thankful to the SOB for appointing me as a regional co-ordinator for seven northeastern states. I will try to give my best," Singh, a seven-time national cycling champion who captained the Indian team in the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi said.

According to him, he would connect with the special athletes of northeast virtually and would visit the seven states once the pandemic-related situatiion improves. Even the SOB has issued the same instructions.

After retiring from the sport, Singh dedicated his life to the cause of special athletes. He has been training and channelising the lives of the special athletes for over three decades now. He has produced 10 athletes who have won medals in international competitions organised under the banner of Special Olympics International (SOI).

The septuagenarian is the only trainer from Asia invited as a technical official for three Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai (2007), Los Angeles (2015) and Abu Dhabi (2019) by the Special Olympic Games organising committee.

Singh has progressed from community, state, national and a regional trainer of Asia Pacific countries.

A fitness enthusiast, Singh maintains his body by daily cycling routine along the Marine Drive in Jamshedpur. "I need to keep myself fit for the sake of my wards. I can only train my wards if I am fit," Singh said.

Singh, who has coaching diplomas from National Institute of Sports (Patiala), Germany and Malaysia said he feels immensely satisfied when his wards win medals in national and international competitions. "Their (special athletes) smile makes me very happy," he added.

“We use Jeevika to bring our students to the social mainstream. Some of our students have got married and are leading a happy life. Besides sports and fitness drills, we train them on how to make Diwali diyas, paper bags and rakhis. We have also taught them the importance of social distance, greet people with namaste and to regularly wash their hands,” he informed.

The list of international medal winners trained by Singh include Achal Gaurav (cycling and floor hockey), Jehangir Gandhy (cycling), Sanjeev Sharma (floor hockey), Raju Pati (football), Harpal Singh (handball), Rajesh Kumar Singh (handball), Alpana Kumari (floor hockey), Nandita (badminton), Tejinder Singh (athletics) and N Sai Krishna (athletics).