HT Bureau
Guwahati, May 25: HDFC Bank and GoSports Foundation jointly launched ‘Unstoppable – Karke Dikhaungi’ a two-phase scholarship program for women athletes, and coaches. Under the aegis of Parivartan – HDFC Bank’s umbrella brand for all social initiatives, the program will identify talented female athletes from across the country and support their pursuit of sporting excellence. Conceptualised by the GoSports Foundation, the initiative will focus on the development of women in sports in India. The Foundation is set to curate and implement the program, with HDFC Bank as the exclusive partner for 3 years.
The program is currently inviting applications from deserving state-and-national level athletes across sporting disciplines and aims to support a diverse set of athletes to help them achieve their sporting potential. Notably, the applications are open for a month from May 24 onwards and the shortlisted athletes will be called in for internal evaluations and further shortlisting for the next stages. All in all, 20 athletes will be awarded scholarships and holistic support for their sporting journeys and crucial junctures in their careers. The top 100 shortlisted athletes, in the third round of this process, will also have access to educational workshops on multiple pertinent topics throughout the year.
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“As a socially responsible corporate citizen, we want to do our part to nurture sporting talent in the country. Sports play a critical role in the holistic development of the youth of our nation. In the absence of adequate resources and infrastructure to support these talented athletes, many are forced to drop out early in their journey. This program is designed to eliminate some of these gaps so that our athletes and coaches could achieve excellence in their disciplines. It is our endeavor to discover talent and help them achieve greatness on the national and international stage,” informed Ashima Bhat, group head-CSR, Business Finance, and Infrastructure, HDFC Bank.
Deepthi Bopaiah, CEO of GoSports Foundation added, “Over the decades, there have been many special milestones created by women sporting champions, who have scripted history and have contributed towards changing stereotypes, breaking barriers, and inspiring communities through sport. At GoSports Foundation, we have been fortunate to be a part of many such journeys over the last 13 years, through Bhavani Devi, Dipa Karmakar, Avani Lekhara, and many more such champions. We are very excited to have HDFC Bank on board to launch a unique program for young girls and women in sport, where we focus on their overall development in their respective sporting journeys. We are very happy to kick-start this program and continue to change the script.”
Further, the program also focuses on crucial aspects such as Menstrual Health and Hygiene, Mental Health and Safe Spaces for women in sport to relax and recharge, and Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) via research, outreach, and advocacy to bring the change in the sporting ecosystem of India and enable women in sport to rise and blaze a trail of their own without any second thoughts about sport.
