Watching PV Sindhu bring home the gold in badminton recently and become a world champion is enough to tell us that the Infosys Foundation is backing the right cause.
It announced this week that it will support the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru to unearth promising new talent from across the country and provide world class coaching to motivated aspirants.
Infosys has allocated a grant of ₹16 crore for a five-year programme that will target 65 junior sportspersons and nurture them into future contenders at the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.
Several grassroot workers hope that talent under this scheme is garnered from small towns and remote areas as people in many of these places do not get sufficient opportunities. And that’s what Vimal Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Coach of PPBA, says is on the cards. “Today, at PPBA, we have athletes from diverse backgrounds and age groups who are steadfastly focused on excelling in this game, and it gives me immense joy when I see our past and present athletes excel in the national and international arena. This support from Infosys Foundation will be significant in taking our training programme to the next level,” he says.