A cyclist pedalling away like mad at 2am on main Sharae Faisal with a car chasing after him looked like a scene from a thriller movie. 

But it was just Safeer Abid, practising for the then upcoming Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, Germany. The car in pursuit of the 25-year-old cyclist had his father behind the wheel, with his mother seated next to her husband. They were only making sure that their son was okay. 

Safeer has loved cycling from as far back as he can remember. Mrs Ambreen Abid, his mother, says that he had wanted a bicycle when he was four. “We bought him one, of course, though we had two training wheels attached to the hind wheel at first,” she says, adding that it took her son no time at all to learn how to ride the bike without the supports.

“He has been pedalling away ever since. First at home and then on Seaview and Sharae Faisal,” she smiles. 

Safeer also has two brothers and two sisters, all of whom love sports and are very supportive of their brother. “He is my eldest son. One of my other sons enjoys playing cricket while the other plays football. My older daughter plays basketball and is also on the NED University team. The youngest one is only nine years old, but she is also interested in sports. All my five children basically take after their father, who played volleyball,” the mother informs me.

Cyclist Safeer Abid is one of the Special Olympics Pakistan athletes who competed in the recent Special Olympics World Games in Berlin. He returned with a gold and silver medal...

Safeer’s father, Ghulam Abid Rizvi, was a junior Pakistan volleyball champion. “I played in all the junior teams — Under-16, Under-19 and Under-21,” the father says. Unfortunately, he dislocated his shoulder in an accident and could never play at the national level again. But that didn’t stop him instilling a love for sports in all his children.

“When we realised that Safeer was slow, having learning disabilities and speech problems, we encouraged him to pursue his love for cycling, as he obviously had an aptitude for it,” says the father.

The parents brought him to Special Olympics Pakistan (SOP) in the hope that their son could receive some coaching or guidance in cycling as a sport. The step turned out to be a life-changing experience for Safeer. He was offered speech therapy by SOP, which helped him communicate better. This was also where he met his coach Adil Lakho for the first time.

“It was in 2020. Covid-19 was at its peak and I was new here myself. In fact both me and Safeer met here on our first days,” says the 22-year-old cycling coach Lakho. He also tells me that he was the only coach in the Pakistan Special Olympics delegation for Berlin, who happened to be younger than many of the athletes.

It wasn’t that long ago when Coach Lakho himself used to dream about excelling in cycling and winning honours for his country. But those ambitions were brought to a halt when he injured his knee in an accident.

“At the time I was looking forward to joining the Sindh cycling team. With that dream ending rather abruptly, I thought of turning to coaching so as not to disassociate myself with the sport altogether. That’s when I approached Special Olympics Pakistan, three years ago,” he says.

He explains a bit about how they build their teams in various sports.

“The athletes are usually nominated by their schools after they perform in inter-school championships. Once here, we work on them further. We hold live-in camps to understand the athletes better. We look for individual habits, understand their medical needs, their medicines and figure out whether they are able to live independently without their parents. The coaches also move into the camp. It helps the athletes bond with us better. Instead of their family, we become responsible for their little needs while also helping them excel in sports,” says Coach Lakho.

“Knowing our athlete’s capabilities, we already know that they will perform well. But we don’t know their opponents, because they are not well-known or famous sportspersons whose videos we can watch and show to our athletes in advance,” says the coach. “So we are pretty much going into the games with faith in our own athletes and their training.”

The Pakistan contingent won a total of 80 medals at the games, including 11 gold, 29 silver and 40 bronze medals. Safeer won a silver medal first during the 25km road race, the longest race at the games. And he won gold later, in the 10km time trial.

“Basically, the road race has other cyclists, too, so you can overtake each other to get ahead but the time trial race is where your time is being compared to others’ time. You don’t get to know the rest until everyone is done,” he says.

Safeer’s parents are also a part of SOP’s Family Support Network, where the athletes’ families are engaged to help in spreading awareness about special children and how they can also grow up into capable persons.

Safeer’s father travelled to Berlin, along with seven to eight other parents who went to cheer their children, while spending from his own pocket. Safeer’s father also helped by taking lots and lots of videos and photographs of all the Pakistani athletes at the games.

Safeer’s mother says that she was expecting to get excited messages and calls from her husband about the great performance of the athletes, especially their son. “But instead I got all that from Coach Lakho,” she laughs.

Sharing an anecdote, she says that Safeer is very close to his paternal uncle or Chachu. “When he was leaving for Berlin, his Chachu told him not to return without a medal because, if he didn’t win, Chachu would ask the airlines to turn the return flight to India to drop off Safeer before landing in Pakistan. And Safeer actually believed him and was afraid,” she chuckles.

Becoming slightly serious then she says that she has noticed a big change in her son after his return from Berlin. “I can notice his becoming more confident and he has also become very talkative,” she says.

Safeer also says that he is very happy and proud to have won two medals for his country. He wants to compete again but, according to Special Olympics rules, an athlete can only compete in a sport one time. To compete again he or she must do it in another sport. Safeer already has his eye on powerlifting. “It looks very interesting to me, so I want to try it,” he says. But there is still some time before the next games.

In the meanwhile, he wants to focus on coaching too. “I want to assist Sir Adil in cycling coaching,” Safeer says.

The coach smiles upon hearing that. “It will also help him build his leadership skills,” he says.

The writer is a member of staff.
She tweets @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 9th, 2023