Vadodara: More than 3,000 participants and visitors attended Prerna 2026, an annual event celebrating the talent, abilities and achievements of persons with disabilities, which concluded at Kalabhavan on Sunday.Organised by Faculty of Technology and Engineering of Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), the 21st edition of Prerna saw over 700 differently abled participants, more than 650 speech-and-hearing-impaired participants and over 300 visitors on the opening day alone. The two-day event featured a mix of sporting and creative competitions, including para-sitting volleyball, shooting, shot put, carrom, rangoli, pot designing and mehndi. This year’s theme was “The Arcade of Infinite Possibilities: From Start Points to Sovereign Destinies.”On the second day, visually impaired and intellectually challenged participants took part in puzzles, memory games, chess, antakshari and dance competitions. Orphaned children were also invited to participate in relay races, tug-of-war, kabaddi and shot put.Vadodara’s Dhurandhar para-sitting volleyball team was among the highlights. The team has kept Vadodara at the top spot at the district level for the past four years and has also won a bronze medal at a national-level tournament.The event also featured para-athletes like Sheetal Darji, an Indian para-table tennis player who won gold in women’s doubles and bronze in mixed doubles at the 2025 UTT Para Senior National Table Tennis Championship, and Rakesh Prajapati, who won silver in the same tournament.The concluding day featured Alfaaz, a motivational talk show with speakers including Thakor Khodaji, a silver medallist at the 2023 Sharjah international tournament and member of India’s 2023 Asian Games contingent; chartered accountant and motivational speaker Vipin Jain; and Rajasthan-based athlete Pooja Agarwal, who has won medals at national and international competitions despite losing three limbs in a 2012 train accident.Visitor engagement activities such as Kick N Rush, Touch of Colour, The Mime Time, Quiz, Sensory Quest, In Their Shoes, The Mind Arena and 10x Shooting were also organised.
