The Sports Ministry has sanctioned funds worth Rs. 2.5 lakh for the assistance of Wrester Sunny Jadhav for his training, procurement of equipment and participation in national and international competitions. The Madhya Pradesh based wrestler has got assistance from the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons.
In a press release, Sports Ministry said, “In the past few months, Sunny Jadhav has had to do labor work including cleaning others’ vehicles after his wrestling practice to make ends meet. Despite the hard work, he couldn’t afford the expenses for his diet and had to take loans from others to continue his wrestling training.”
Jadhav is a budding wrestling talent that won silver medals at the Under 23 Junior National Wrestling Championships in 2018. He finished as runners-up at last year’s Khelo India University Games held in Bhubaneswar and in the 60kg Greco-Roman event.
The wrestler comes from a humble background. To support his family he has been doing labour jobs after his training schedule. Jadhav’s father died in 2017 due to a brain hemorrhage and after that, his financial condition worsened.
The Deendayal Upadhyaya funds were first amended back in 2017 to sportspersons for training and financial assistance of at most Rs. 5 lakh with additional monthly pension worth Rs. 5000. As per the amendments of the funds, the ministry can also sanction a sum of Rs 10 lakh to an outstanding sportsperson for injuries sustained during training or in any tournament.
Such financial assistance is also given to the parents of spokesperson that are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Sportspersons belonging to those sports disciplines whose federations are either de-recognized or recognized by the government are also eligible for financial assistance under the fund.