Mumbai: The four Indian paralympic winners Devendra Jhajharia (Gold Medal, Men's Javelin F46), Mariyappan Thangavelu (Gold Medal, Men's High Jump T42), Deepa Malik (Silver Medal, Women's Shot Put F53) and Varun Singh Bhati (Bronze Medal, Men's High Jump T42) were felicitated at an event in Mumbai for their medal winning efforts in the recently concluded Rio 2016 Paralympics. Cricket legend and Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was joined by many personalities from different walks of life in felicitating the champions Paralympic athletes who had made India proud by their efforts at the highest level of sport.
The Rio 2016 Paralympics Medal Winners each received a cheque of Rs. 15 lakhs. Medal winners in earlier editions of the Paralympics will also be each presented Rs. 15 lakhs. These include Murlikant Petkar (1972), Bhimrao Keskar (1984), Joginder Singh Bedi (1984),Rajinder Singh Rahelu (2004) and HN Girisha (2012). Go Sports Foundation will also receive Rs. 35 lakhs to continue their endeavor in supporting and developing future Paralympic champions.
The Rio 2016 Paralympics champion athletes were also presented with smartphones & laptops from Smartron as also with free lifetime healthcare support at Aster DM Healthcare facilities in India as part of their felicitation.
Commenting on the initiative, Sachin Tendulkar said, “The achievements of these Paralympic athletes deserves special commendation as they have emerged as champions overcoming several challenges, amply demonstrating those challenges exist only in the mind. I have been heartened by the overwhelming support of my friends and associates who willingly came forward and supported this initiative to acknowledge the proud achievements of the champion athletes.”
"Each of them strived to be among the best in the world and their stories of success will always have a special place in our hearts. We are also celebrating our medal winners from the previous Paralympics as also supporting the efforts to develop future Paralympic Medal winners," added Sachin.
The contributors to the corpus led by Sachin Tendulkar included Chamundeshwarnath V (President, Hyderabad District Badminton Association), Nimmagadda Prasad (Industrialist & Co-Owner Kerala Blasters), Dr. Azad Moopen (Chairman & Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare), Sanjay Ghodawat (Chairman, Sanjay Ghodawat Group), and Abhay Gadgil (Director, Abhay Gadgil Constructions).
Personalities like Boria Majumdar (Leading Media Personality), Narsi Reddy (Managing Director - Smartron), Raghav Gupta (Founder and CEO, Fanatic Sports), Kolli Ravikumar (Managing Director, Lambourne Projects), Siddharth Jain (Managing Director, Inox Air Products), Amit Bhosale (ABIL Foundation), Avinash Gupta (Managing Director, Shri. Badrinarain Alloys & Steels Limited), Shreevar Kheruka (Managing Director, Borosil Glassworks), Rajiv Mundhra (Director, Simplex Concrete), Mohit Gupta (Director, Impressions Ad Agency), Subhasish Chakraborty (Chairman & Managing Director, DTDC), Yash Goenka (Director, Shanti Enterprises) and Dhananjay Singh (Managing Director, Kaushik Logistics), Ravikumar Kohli (Managing Director, Lambourne Projects) also made generous contributions to the corpus for the athletes.
