Sochi holds competitions among wheelchair athletes from Krasnodar Territory

The traditional Sochi Cup among locomotive invalids attracted about 60 amateur athletes who competed in table tennis, darts and street ball in their wheelchairs.

The athletes came from Ust-Labinsk and Novorossiysk, from the Apsheron, Uspenskiy and Krasnoarmeyskiy Districts, Krasnodar, Gelendzhik and the village of Dinskaya.

All the competitors pursue active lifestyle and go in for sports, but their main problem is to find suitable places for training. Another problem, common to all participants of the tournament is in transport: societies of invalids never had buses of their own, while local administrations refuse to provide them.

"For lack of jobs, we still need to do something," said Andrei Drobyshev from the Krasnoarmeyskiy District. "It's better that I do sports than I stay at home inside four walls. Here, I get acquainted with new people and get pleasure from playing tennis, for example."

However, many wheelchair invalids, according to the participants, especially in rural areas of the Krasnodar Territory, sit at home and rarely go out. "If we participate and move more, we'll become known to other wheelchair users who sit at home," said Alevtina Guseva from the Ust-Labinsk District. "Some have a fear of leaving the house. Some lack information. When we become more numerous, other guys themselves will come here."