Sai Praneeth makes a donation of Rs. 4 lakh as India fights COVID-19

Sai Praneeth has come forward for a noble cause to help the people in fighting the deadly COVID-19 that has made a huge impact all over the world. The badminton star has pledged to donate a sum of Rs. 4 lakh. Earlier, the Rio Olympics silver medalist PV Sindhu had pledged to donate a sum of Rs. 5,00,000 each to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for fighting coronavirus.

READ: Pullela Gopichand net worth, salary and latest ₹26 lakh donation for COVID-19 fight

 'Hope my contributions help': Sai Praneeth

Taking to the micro-blogging site, the badminton star wrote that he has contributed a sum of Rs. 3 lakh for PM relief fund and 1 lakh for Telangana state CM relief fund as his part in this fight against COVID-19. Sai Praneeth then added he hopes that contributions help the nation in this tough situation.

READ: Pullela Gopichand steps up to donate ₹26 lakh for coronavirus fight: Reports

The impact of COVID-19 on sporting events

Meanwhile, all the major sporting events have either been postponed or cancelled due to the global pandemic. The India-South Africa bilateral ODI series has been rescheduled at a further date while the IPL 2020 that was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29 has tentatively been postponed to April 15. The UEFA Euro Cup 2020 and the Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed to the summer of 2021. The showpiece event of world tennis the Wimbledon 2020 has been cancelled for the first time since the Second World War whereas, the French Open 2020 that was supposed to be held in May-June has now been postponed to September 2020.

Coming back to badminton, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Monday suspended a host of its flagship international, junior and para tournaments scheduled from May to July in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It comprises many Grade 2 and 3 events including HSBC BWF World Tour, BWF Tour, and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments. According to a BWF release, the decision was taken in "close consultation and consensus" with the Host Member Associations (HMA) and Continental Confederations (CC). The most prominent tournament affected during the period is the Indonesia Open 2020 (Super 1000).

READ: Badminton: BWF suspends all its tournaments till July

READ: PV Sindhu hailed for women empowerment by Twitterati for latest '9 pm, 9 min' tweet