BHOPAL: Survivors of the Bhopal gas leak in 1984 held their own special version of the Olympic Games in India on Thursday as a form of protest against the sponsorship of the London Games by Dow Chemical.

About 80 disabled children ranging from ages five to 16 took part in 10 sports in Bhopal, in protest at the company's link with the International Olympic Committee and Dow's refusal to increase a 1989 compensation package for victims of the leak.

The children raced in wheelchairs, with the assistance of walkers and also played soccer during the three-hour event, organisers said.

“We have been protesting against Dow's sponsorship for a year now, we want them to be dropped,” organisers' spokeswoman Rachna Dhingra said of the protest against the company, which has a sponsorship agreement with the IOC until 2020.

“But we have realised this is not going to happen.”

As many as 25,000 residents of Bhopal died in the aftermath of the gas leak at a pesticide factory that was owned by a subsidiary of Union Carbide in 1984.—Reuters