Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar’s ‘The CHAMPS Foundation’, has come to the aid of ailing hockey Olympian Mohinder Pal Singh.
58-year-old Singh has been suffering from a kidney ailment and is on dialysis waiting for a donor for transplant. He was recently also provided financial assistance by the sports ministry.
“I had been reading in the media about the hard times that our earlier Olympians and (international) medallists were facing in their later years. The information about Shri MP Singh’s health also came about thanks to the print media,” Gavaskar said.
Singh was an integral part of the Indian hockey team that took part in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and played alongside the likes of Mohammed Shahid, MM Somaya, Jude Felix, Pargat Singh to name a few.
Gavaskar said the primary reason behind setting up The CHAMPS Foundation (Caring, Helping, Assisting, Motivating, Promoting Sportspersons) was because there wasn’t any specific organisation that helped former athletes who gave their all for the nation and subsequently fell on hard times.
“Since there are many Foundations for Education, Health, Child and Senior citizens and such but none for former international sportspersons, I thought of setting up a Foundation with a personal contribution,” Gavaskar said.
Till date, ‘The CHAMPS Foundation’ claims to have helped 21 former players with monthly assistance besides taking care of their medical expenses.
“We would like to help more but we get to know about a player who is struggling to make ends meet only when the media does a story. We can be contacted via email on info@champsindia.org or +919967085558 or https://champsindia.org,” Gavaskar said. About the credibility of people seeking financial assistance, Gavaskar said that there are systems in place.
