Games take special-needs athletes to Infinity and beyond

Two hundred special-needs athletes from across the UAE gathered to compete in the first ever Infinity Games on Friday.

Hosted by Sunmarke School in Dubai, athletes from schools and sports clubs took part in races, sprints, obstacle courses and gymnastics contests in competitions open to people of all nationalities.

PE teacher Hollie Murphy, the games’ founder who has run the Sports Heroes Academy for people with special needs for four years, said that without a competition like this “nobody would encourage these kids” to compete.

The Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 committee helped her to organise the event and 150 of their athletes joined in.

Talal Al Hashemi, national director of the Special Olympics UAE, said collaborating with Infinity Games helped them to achieve their most important goal of better including people with special needs into society.

“People with special needs have unique capabilities,” Mr Al Hashemi said. “It also gave our Special Olympics athletes a chance to practise for next year.”