Sania Mirza, PV Sindhu raise funds for daily workers amidst lockdown

Top Indian athletes Sania Mirza, PV Sindhu, Bajrang Punia and more are coming forward to help raise funds for daily wage workers in the country after India declared a 21-day lockdown as a precautionary measure to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

The relentless spread of COVID-19 globally, which brought a halt on all major sporting events, has also forced the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Tokyo Olympics by a year.

Confined to their homes, Indian athletes are fulfilling their social responsibilities by helping those whose only source of income has been their daily wages, which has stopped for now.

Sania Mirza has decided to support the Safa organization pledging to donate money for the workers during these trying times.

“In this difficult time that the world is going through, we are privileged to be able to sit at home, in comfort and wait for everything to be OK again... there are thousands of people who aren’t that lucky enough and it’s our responsibility to take care of them in whatever capacity we can,” said Sania Mirza.

Apart from Sania Mirza, star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia and India’s number one badminton player PV Sindhu have also extended their support.

While Bajrang Punia has decided to donate six months of his salary, PV Sindhu is donating Rs. 15 lakhs for the Chief Minister's Relief Fund as well as to the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Olympic places ensured

All the three Indian athletes have ensured that their Tokyo Olympics berths were sealed before the sporting world came to a standstill.

While both Sania Mirza and PV Sindhu sit in comfortable positions on the WTA and BWF rankings table respectively, for direct Tokyo Olympic qualifications, Bajrang Punia had sealed his Olympic spot by reaching the semi-final of the World Wrestling Championships last year.