Acting CEO, Justin Kaitapu, left, presents Digicel's donation to the Special Olympics Tonga Association (SOTA). November 2013.

Digicel Tonga presented the Special Olympics Tonga Association (SOTA) with $2,000 cash to support eight Tongan athletes to the Asia Pacific Games in Newcastle, Australia next week.

In a statement today, Digicel said they are sponsoring and supporting Special Olympics in the Caribbean, Central America, the Pacific, where it has been key in establishing SOTA in Tonga. “Digicel have been supportive of all SOTA initiatives to date, organizing fundraisers for them and also donating $10,000 cash in July of this year.”

The Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 4.2 million athletes in 170 countries. In 2011, the Special Olympic Tonga Association (SOTA), received international recognition to allow them to coordinate and facilitate the work in training athletes to prepare for the competitions. 

The objective of SOTA is to provide year round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic type sports for children and adults with an intellectual disability. It allows the athletes to develop physical fitness and agility whilst demonstrating courage, experiencing joy and participation in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the entire community.