The Indian women’s hockey team were training for the Olympics at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Bengaluru when the Prime Minister announced the nationwide shutdown in March.
They continue to reside on the campus even though the Olympics have since been postponed to 2021. Their days comprise of training exercises to maintain fitness but very little outside activity. And now with the lockdown extended for another 3 weeks, the hockey stars have together come up with a unique idea to fundraise for India’s fight against coronavirus.
On Friday, they launched a fun fitness challenge to raise funds for the migrant labourers whose families have been affected by the nationwide lockdown. The 18-day challenge aims to raise money through crowdfunding to feed at least 1000 families while also encouraging people to adapt to an active lifestyle during the nationwide lockdown that has been extended till May 3.
"...every day we are reading in the newspapers and social media about so many people struggling for food, we decided to do something to help these people as a team," captain Rani Rampal said.
"...we thought an online fitness challenge would be the best way to do it and this way, we can also urge people to stay active during the nation-wide lockdown. Through this initiative, our goal is to raise enough funds to feed at least 1000 families," she said.
The money from the crowd-funding effort will be donated to a Delhi-based NGO Uday Foundation and the proceeds will be used to provide basic necessities for patients at various locations, migrant workers and slum dwellers.
Apart from providing food/dry ration, the fund will also be used to provide sanitary kits that will include soaps and hand sanitisers.
The challenge will see members of the Indian women's hockey team come up with fitness tasks that range from burpees, lunges, squats to spider-man pushups, pogo hops and more.
Each day, a player will give a new challenge and tag 10 people on her social media handles to take up the challenge and donate Rs. 100 for the cause.
(With inputs from PTI)
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