ASTANA. February 23. KAZINFORM February 24-26 Astana will host the Open Winter Special Olympics of Kazakhstan. For the first time 320 disabled athletes from all regions of Kazakhstan and teams from Austria, Russia, and Uzbekistan will compete in skating, skiing and floorball tournaments.

"Healthy athlete" program will be carried out iccording to five key directions as follows:  FanFitnes, Healthy Smile, Healthy Ears, Eyes Open and Healthy Lifestyle. 

The Health Ministry, National Children's Rehabilitation Center, Special Olympics, Inc., and "Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan" LLP, "Optika Plus" will support the examination of the athletes in order to improve children's health and quality of their life. 

Currently, more than 3.5 million special athletes train and compete in 170 countries in 33 Olympic sports at the local, national and World Games. Kazakhstan has a population of about 153 thousand children with special needs.  Special Olympics Movement embraces more than 18,500 children, they train in 19 sports.

The Winter Olympics will be held under the auspices of the Kazakh Sport and Physical Culture Agency, Astana Akimat, UNICEF, BG Kazakhstan, Alau Ice Stadium, and Kcell official mobile operator.