Over 520 athletes, including eighty from Asad Biella, belonging to 40 teams from all over Northern Italy. This is one of the most significant numbers of the “Play the Games” games, organized by the Special Olympics Italia Team Piemonte, in collaboration with the City of Biella, the municipality of Gaglianico, the Asad Biella sports association and the SportivaMente social cooperative. The event, presented yesterday in the Municipality, will start on Friday 29 at 6 pm at the Biella Forum with the opening ceremony, while on Saturday and Sunday, in nine sports facilities in the Biella area, the athletes will compete in ten different disciplines: athletics, bowling, bowling , soccer, flag rugby, rhythmic gymnastics, karate, swimming, volleyball and tennis. “It is always an honor and a joy to host the competitions linked to Special Olympics Italy in the city, but on this occasion it is even more so because it is a return to sociability and normality after the health emergency – says Mayor Claudio Corradino -. The citizens of Biella have always gathered around these events with great participation and affection and I am sure that during the “Play the games” there will be a lot of public ready to cheer on these incredible and generous athletes ».
During the event there will also be space for the celebration of the 25 years of Asad Biella, the city bulwark of sports inclusion. «Organizing the Games on our territory is always a great honor – declares the president of Special Olympics Italia Team Piemonte and Asad Carlo Cremonte -, above all in virtue of previous experiences that have seen an extraordinary involvement of the public who came to cheer on the races. It is precisely the athletes who give us the courage necessary to organize, in difficult conditions due to the pandemic, an event with numbers unthinkable only until a few weeks ago: it is, without a shadow of a doubt, the sporting event for people with greater disabilities. this year in Italy ».