pune the indian army has recently established the first paralympic sports node psn at the bombay engineering group beg here a senior army officer told toi on saturdaythe army authorities believe that the node would boost the morale of the soldiers who were injured in the line of duty over the course of time the army has produced a large number of sportsmen and won several medals the sports policy is now being expanded to cover serving paralympic athletes as wellwhile explaining the importance of the node a senior army officer who is closely associated with this development told toi on saturday an achievement at the services national and international level will boost the morale of the sports persons enhance their selfesteem rekindle their sense of belonging and give them a goal to strive forparticipating in paralympic sports events apart from achieving the goals for a holistic rehabilitation of our speciallyabled soldiers will also enhance the image of the indian armythe army sports control board ascb a statutory body had sought feedback from players to know their requirements the body has given its consent to set up the facility army sources addedthe node will impart training in athletics archery triathlon swimming and shooting currently the army has as many as 25 para athletes in different sportsthe policy of promotion for these athletes is similar to the ablebodied athletes as a result these athletes will get an opportunity to get promotion in their service career which will be a respite for them the officer addedthe beg authorities sources said have proposed specific training infrastructure to the army headquarterthe construction of a special synthetic track ecofriendly accommodation for players have been mentioned in the proposal sources addedpune has several sports institutes such as the army sports institute asi army institute of physical training aipt army rowing node arn which can help train these athletesapart from that the artificial limb centre alc can play a pivotal role as players can get their artificial limbs repaired on time the officer added commenting on the selec tion procedure the officer said physical fitness and age are the important factors during the selection of playersonce selected we will train the player for a few monthsdepending on the performance we will be decided whether to continue with him or notmeanwhile welcoming this development the former secretary of the services sports control board brigadier m raja retd said para athletes have been performing well in national and international competitions it was the need of the hour to have a dedicated facility for training them this initiative will certainly have a positive result