Pakistan’s superb performance at the Special Olympics World Games 2015 deserves appreciation. Raising their medal count to 23 already, the 75-member contingent continues its winning streak.

Our players are competing in nine sport disciplines including aquatics, athletics, badminton, basketball and power lifting. They are competing with seven thousand players that have come from almost 177 countries. The 2015 World Games is said to be the largest event hosted by Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympics Games, with 27 sports arenas. Our team is doing nothing less than making our country proud.

Setting this winning streak aside, the mere fact that there was so much determination by the players and enthusiasm by the whole of the country, it is fair to say, that there is a real effort being made to engage people with special needs in social activities. Credit for this should also be given to our government, for making sure that there were training facilities and funds to actually make these wins possible.

The congratulations over internationally successful feats do not end here. Pakistan has reached another milestone, where it has become an associate member of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), making it the first non-European country to achieve this status. This accolade signals global recognition for Pakistan’s impressive credentials in the field of science and technology and for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in particular.

The Associate membership of Pakistan will open a new era of cooperation that will strengthen the long-term partnership between CERN and the Pakistani scientific community. It will also allow us to participate in the governance of CERN and will give Pakistani scientists a chance to become members of the staff as well.

This scientific breakthrough coupled with our victories at the Special Olympics, shows that Pakistanis are capable of achieving great things. We should focus on further improving sports and technology. These fields can not only help us develop into an economically successful state, but can also show the world that we have so much to offer.