| Ishan Ibrahim |
THE Special Olympics Brunei Darussalam (SOBD) has elected new members at its fifth Annual General Meeting held at the Sekolah Menengah Berakas on Sunday.
The new Board Chairman of SOBD is Lt Colonel (Rtd) Pengiran Haji Rambli bin Pengiran Haji Bunut, whilst the new Vice Chairman is Jumat bin Salleh.
The board’s new advisor is Haji Awang Mahrub bin Haji Awang Morni, SOBD’s previous chairman.
Prior to the voting for the committee members, the outgoing Chairman of SOBD, Haji Awang Mahrub bin Haji Awang Morni said in his welcoming address cited the significance of the Special Olympics, that presents sports and games opportunities for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Since the establishment of the SOBD twelve years ago, the national movement has grown in size and has participated in national, regional and international sports meet sanctioned by the Special Olympics International, an organization that is recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
One of the biggest challenges in the care of these special athletes is that they need guidance from people so they can reap some measure of success in these special sports events and activities, explained Haji Awang Mahrub.
The SOBD chairman delivering a speech
As with other sports events, Special Olympics also required coaches that are well-trained and qualified in the relevant fields, so the national body can hold sports events to select athletes that can compete in regional and international special Olympics events, he continued.
These trainers and coaches must be qualified in Special Olympic training in order to hold national events, otherwise the events would not be sanctioned by the international body, the Special Olympics International, explained Haji Awang Mahrub.
In the 12 years of Special Olympics Brunei Darussalam’s existence, national athletes had participated in three world meets, namely the Shanghai, Athens and Los Angeles games, a great achievement by SOBD that has limited resources, said Haji Awang Mahrub.
Thankfully, SOBD have tremendous support and encouragement from various sectors in the government and private companies, and of course SOBD would not have done well without the excellent assistance from volunteers that have poured out their energy and finances for the national movement’s current success and achievement, elucidated Haji Awang Mahrub further.
He also urged parents with special needs children to be more involved in the special Olympics, as he believed the present membership should be much larger than what it is now.
Though there were roadshows in all four districts of the country to promote and explain the significance of the special Olympics, some parents and family members do hesitated to forward their special children’s membership into SOBD, and Haji Awang Mahrub hoped parents can be more active in the participation of their special children.
In an another context, Haji Awang Mahrub said the international movement of unified games that involved athletes without disabilities and special athletes are getting more popular, as some special athletes have broken world records in their special sports events and had shown tremendous prowess in their atheletism.
Wati Haji Bujang, Secretary General of SOBD said to the Sunday Bulletin that this 5th Annual General Meeting of SOBD aimed to discuss financial reports and achievements of their movement, as well as generating strategic plans and making decisions and plans as to SOBD’S direction in terms of goals, activities and other relevant issues that will help the national movement to grow bigger and more successful.
So far, there are now 1000 athlete members, and she hoped that this number will grow even more with the help of parents and family members, as well as the community that can provide assistance in terms of volunteerism, efforts and financial assistance.
The post SOBD elects new members at fifth AGM appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.