As a recent example of the hockey family’s efforts to fight the global health pandemic COVID-19, a fundraiser by the Indian women national team is helping to feed more than 1000 families of poor and migrant workers whose livelihood has been impaired during India’s curfew.
Indian Women National Team
On April 17, 2020, India’s Eves launched an 18-day fitness challenge to raise funds for charity while encouraging people to adapt to an active lifestyle while suspended. When the challenge ended on May 3, 2020, the team had raised over two million Indian rupees, which is around $ 26,000.
“The response we got was really overwhelming,” said Indian team captain Rani. “People, especially Indian hockey lovers from all over the world, took part in the challenge and stood up for the cause. I would like to thank you on behalf of the team.
” Everyone who has participated in this initiative to help the poor. It was encouraging to see that many Hockey India member units, legends, and former Indian hockey players show their support by participating in this initiative and we are really grateful. “
With this challenge, the team members tackled various fitness tasks, from burpees, lunges, and squats to Spider-Man pushups, pogo hops, and much more. Every day, a player-initiated a new challenge and marked ten different people in their social media handles.
Everyone was asked to take up the challenge and donate 100 Indian rupees to the fundraiser. India’s Vice-Captain Savita explains more.
“When we discussed this challenge with our head coach [Sjoerd Marijne] and understood how online fundraisers work, we didn’t think the outcome would be so immense,” said Savita. “But we’ve seen people’s support grow day by day.”
Many of them sent messages to us and patted us on the back for picking up on this, and it encouraged us more. We would also like to thank Hockey India, our head coach Sjoerd Marijne and the entire support team for supporting this initiative. We felt very strong because most of us in the team come from very difficult financial backgrounds. “
The money raised by India’s Eves has been donated to the Uday Foundation, a non-governmental organization based in New Delhi that provides basic needs to those in need. In addition to food in the form of dry rations, the funds are also used to provide hygiene sets that contain soaps and hand disinfectants.
We congratulate the team on their initiative, the President of Hockey India, Mohd. Mushtaque Ahmad said: “It is very encouraging to see the Indian women’s hockey team take such a thoughtful initiative. I have been informed that hundreds of people have already benefited from this and have received dry rations.
This makes us extremely proud of the players. The team has shown that athletes always have a big heart and will respond if necessary. I not only congratulate the team on behalf of Hockey India, but I also want to thank them for taking care of this and feeding the needy. “
