Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal's ex-coach Vimal Kumar help raise ₹7.5 lakh for charity

Indian badminton coach Pullela Gopichand has joined Indian cricket stars Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh in contributing to the Play for India initiative. Along with Gopichand, former badminton player Aparna Popat and Saina Nehwal's former coach Vimal Singh also made telling contribution to the charity campaign. The Play for India initiative was recently launched by former Indian hockey player Viren Rasquinha and Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), intending to support people connected with sports whose livelihoods have been put to risk by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

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Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal's former coach join Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj SIngh in making Play for India donation 

The head coach of the Indian national badminton team, Pullela Gopichand, along with former badminton star Aparna Popat and Vimal Kumar, raised a whopping ₹7.5 lakh for Play for India donation in just 10 days. 70 beneficiaries will receive help from the donation, which include coaches, markers, both able-bodied and para-badminton players and venue support staff from the grassroots level. The #TogtherWeRally initiative supported by Pullela Gopichand exceeded their ₹5 lakh target.

Play for India, on their official Twitter account, thanked Aparna Popat, Vimal Kumar and Pullela Gopichand for their efforts. The Play for India initiative is another telling contribution that Pullela Gopichand has involved himself in during the coronavirus pandemic, having earlier donated ₹26 lakh for the fight against COVID-19. Pullela Gopichand contributed ₹11 lakh to the PM Cares Fund while contributing ₹10 lakh to the Telangana Chief Minister's Relief Fund and ₹5 lakh to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Relief Fund respectively.

Also Read: Pullela Gopichand Steps Up To Donate ₹26 Lakh For Coronavirus Fight: Reports

Indian cricket stars Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma have already shown their support to the Play for India initiative, along with Mayank Agarwal and Smriti Mandhana. Speaking on the official social media page of Play For India, Yuvraj Singh said that sports have been made possible only because of the efforts of the support system. He also added that with ‘Play For India’, they are intending to provide monetary as well as non-monetary assistance to the unsung heroes of Indian sports.

Rohit Sharma also spoke in the same vein, regarding how lack of sporting projects are affecting the people who work in the background. Apart from Pullela Gopichand, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh, fellow Indian sports stars have pledged their support to the Play for India movement. These include tennis stars Sania Mirza and Somdev Devvarman, Olympians Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar, freestyle wrestler Bajrang Punia and Bollywood celebrities like Abhishek Bachchan and Suniel Shetty. 

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(Image Credit: bwfbadminton.com)