Coronavirus: Paddler Sathiyan Gnanasekaran donates Rs 1 lakh 25 thousand

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc affecting over 7 lakh people across the globe. In India as well, more than 1,100 people have been affected. Amid such a crisis sports icons of the country are stepping up and making monetary contributions to keep the fight going against the disease.

From Sachin Tendulkar to P V Sindhu, all have come forward to donate towards this cause. In the latest addition, India's ace table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran also pitched in to help in this fight. Through a video message on his Instagram handle, the paddler announced that he will be donating a sum of Rs 1,25,000.

"These are testing times for all of us especially for the daily wage workers & migrant labourers.I hereby pledge to donate a total of Rs 1,25,000 ( Rs 1 lakh for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s public relief fund & Rs 25000 for PM Cares fund ) !! I have done my bit and I hope all of you will help the poor & needy in whatever way possible," the 27-year-old wrote.

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These are testing times for all of us especially for the daily wage workers & migrant labourers. I hereby pledge to donate a total of Rs 1,25,000 ( Rs 1 lakh for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s public relief fund & Rs 25000 for PM Cares fund ) !! I have done by bit and I hope all of you will help the poor & needy in whatever way possible. #sathiyantt #tabletennis #paybacktime #donate #helptheneedy #sports #letsdoittogether #covid_19 @kiren.rijiju @media.iccsai @narendramodi @gosportsvoices @baselineventures @ongcofficial @ramantthighperformance @raman_subramanian @ulttabletennis @thebridge_in @fastandup_india @fastandup_fitsquad @butterflyttofficial @asv_gruenwettersbach_tt @cmo.tamilnadu

A post shared by Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (@sathiyantt) on Mar 30, 2020 at 1:11am PDT

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, has been living out of a suitcase of some time with competitions across the world keeping him busy.

But now with the ITTF suspending the Tour for a foreseeable future, Sathiyan is taking a step back and relax before he gets into the grind once the world is out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the paddler from Chennai created history after he became the first Indian men’s singles player to break into the world’s top 25 rankings.

A nationwide lockdown in India over the coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on thousands of migrant workers in the capital, New Delhi. With few transport options available, thousands of people, mostly young male day labourers but also families, have resorted to commuting on foot during the 21-day lockdown that started on Wednesday.

The workers started fleeing New Delhi after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown, which effectively put millions of Indians living off daily earnings out of work. Construction projects, taxi services, housekeeping and other informal sector employment came to a sudden halt.

Also read: Table Tennis: Sathiyan and Manika were still deciding what to do when Sharath Kamal had won his last title