Global Sports Mentoring Program

Pakistani Disability Sport Leader Builds Hope for the Future

As a former international table tennis player and coach (certified ITTF Level 1 and 2), Mian Absar Ali has represented Pakistan at international competitions and youth exchange programs. He was the first to introduce the game of Teqball in Pakistan and serves as the founding president of the Pakistan Teqball Federation. In addition to his athletic and coaching accomplishments, Absar has received widespread recognition for his work in the sports for peace sector. In 2019, he became a Global Youth Peace Ambassador with the Regional Alliance for Fostering Youth in the Maldives and was recognized as a Global Peace Ambassador by the Global Peace Institution in London, England.

Absar was recently elected a Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) of Pak Youth Parliament and currently leads the Sports and Peace Ministry. He also serves as an executive member of various organizations and government parties including Directorate General of Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Paralympic Committee), Global Peace Institute, Youth Empowering Ancillary Services (YEAS), National Paralympic Committee (KP Chapter) and Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (Para Committee).

Topping off his robust resume, Absar is the founder and president of Absar Welfare Foundation, an organization working in Pakistan to empower persons with different abilities and gender-based violence (GBV) victims through sports. Through his foundation, Absar has facilitated hundreds of leadership workshops, athletic skills clinics, and sessions on gender-based violence, with the aim of equipping participants and athletes with the skills necessary to live independent and confident lives. He also conducted several workshops on positive masculinity.

By participating in the GSMP, Absar hopes to build upon his experience and accomplishments and learn strategies for creating partnerships and sustainable sports programming for people with disabilities in Pakistan. His personal mission is to build Pakistan’s first sports rehabilitation center serving persons with a disability and victims of GBV.

Absar will be mentored by Derek Daniels, the Director of Adaptive Sports & Fitness programs at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.

Derek Daniels, Chicago, IL

Director Adaptive Sports & Fitness Programs, Therapeutic Recreation and Volunteer Services at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Derek Daniels has led the Adaptive Sports & Fitness Programs for the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) since 2011. Previously, he was the Director of Freeland SportsZone in Michigan from 2009 to 2011 and the Recreation Superintendent for City of Lapeer Parks and Recreation. Derek has a bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation from Michigan State University and a master’s in Sports Management from the United States Sports Academy. Derek also coaches the Chicago Blackhawks sled hockey team, winning multiple National Championships. Throughout his more than 20 years of sports coaching experience working with youth and adult athletes he has come realize the power of community that sports provides. “We’re creating something much bigger than ourselves. I see sport as advocacy and activism.”

Pakistani Disability Sport Leader Builds Hope for the Future

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