Coronavirus: PV Sindhu donates Rs 10 lakhs in fight against Covid-19

PV Sindhu, on Thursday, joined famous sports personalities from around the world to help fight the spread of the coronavirus. The reigning World Champion shuttler donated Rs 10 lakhs, 5 lakhs each towards the "Chief Ministers Relief Fund" for the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Earlier this week, former Indian cricket captain and present BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly donated rice worth Rs 50 lakhs for the needy. Football superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have also each reportedly given €1 million ($1.1 million) to the cause.

The deadly disease, which has infected more than 4,00,000 people worldwide, has brought all sporting activities across the globe to a grinding halt, disrupting the Olympic qualifiers before pushing the Tokyo Games to next year.

The number of positive cases in India has surpassed the 600-mark, while 13 deaths have been reported so far, prompting the government to put the country under lockdown till April 14 to halt the spread of the virus.

Sindhu wrote on Twitter: "I hereby donate an amount of Rs 5,00,000/- each (Rs five lakhs) towards the Chief Ministers Relief Fund for the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to fight against COVID-19."

https://twitter.com/Pvsindhu1/status/1243071265356673026

The star shuttler, who claimed a silver at the Rio Olympics, is assured of a spot at the Tokyo Games based on her rankings but has to wait for next year to compete in her second Olympics.

The BWF had, earlier this month, suspended all the HSBC BWF World Tour and other tournaments from March 16 to April 12 before further suspending five more tournaments.

These included the three continental championships falling inside the April 26 deadline for Olympic qualification.

(With PTI inputs)