New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) Indian athletes’ preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics received a major boost Thursday as Samsung India inked a deal with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to support seven qualifiers.
Five shooters, an archer and a boxer received the scholarship.
World champion shooters Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Abhinav Bindra, Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Commonwealth silver winning shooters Anjali Bhagwat, Avneet Kaur Sidhu and archer Dola Banerjee, who won the gold in the World Cup, and pugilist Anthresh Lalit Lakra are the sportspersons to be supported by the South Korean electronics major. All the seven have qualified for the Beijing Olympics.
They have all received scholarships worth Rs.400,000 each for their Olympic preparation.
“It is a proud moment for all of us,” said Sandhu, who is also Samsung’s Olympic brand ambassador. “We have less than a year for the Olympics and we can assure you all that we would give our best in Beijing.”
Samsung India has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to become the Olympic Partner for the Beijing-bound Indian contingent.
“Our Olympic programme seeks to support the training needs of these seven high potential athletes who, we hope, can win medals in Beijing,” said H.B. Lee, president of Samsung South West Asia.
A visibly elated IOA president Kalmadi talked about the progress of the 2010 Commonwealth Games work.
Kalmadi, however, appeared taken aback when asked whether his promise of Indian athletes winning a lot of medals at Beijing will again will remain unfulfilled like it happened in the previous games, and said: “We are focussing on the 2010 Commonwealth Games.”