Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 7: Representing Jammu and Kashmir State, the School for Hearing Handicapped J&K Samaj Kalyan Kendra, Jammu, under the banner of J&K Blind and Para Judo Association won overall trophy in the 2nd Deaf National Judo Championship 2013-14, organized by the Blind and Para Judo Federation of India at Bal Bhawan in New Delhi.
17-member Jammu and Kashmir team, accompanied by Satyajeet Singh and Meenakshi Sharma as coach and manager respectively, bagged 14 medals, with 8 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze to clinch overall Championship, while Uttar Pradesh emerged runners-up in this Championship.
The team was honoured by Samaj Kalyan Kendra in an impressive and well attended function, which was graced by the presence of the chief guest Ranjeet Kalra, member BCCI and J&K State Sports Council, besides Inderjeet Khajuria, ML Sharma, Krishan Singh Jamwal, RC Thakur and judo coaches Suraj Bhan Singh and Ritika Slathia.
The gold medal winners included Nayaz Ali, Vishal Khajuria, Shubham Kumar, Chetan, Abhishek Gupta, Vivek Singh, Nidhi Sharma and Rakshinda Dar, while the silver medals were bagged by Nabeel Ahmed Dar, Rohit Kumar and Rukaya Bano and the bronze medals went to Vijay Kumar, Vakesh Kumar and Rohan Kumar.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kalra lauded the efforts of the judokas and their coaches Suraj Bhan Singh and Ritika Slathia for this landmark achievement.