Over 350 children across 99 schools, 35 Gurukuls and 4 NGO participated Scholarships awarded to Winners

Noida, November 18, 2017: Hon’ble Shri Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate today felicitated over 350 children participating in HCL Foundation’s First National Sports Meet – ‘Sports for Change’ here in Noida.

Shri Sharma also encouraged the children and presented some of them with scholarships supported by HCL Technologies’ ‘Power of One’ initiative – a voluntary contribution scheme by HCL employees. 

HCL Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of HCL Technologies, organised the meet to support and encourage sports skills and nurture talent among students of HCL supported ‘My School’ and ‘My Community’ (Gurukuls and Yuvakendra) projects. These children belong to underprovided sections of the society who do not get adequate sports facilities.

Over 150 children from Chennai, Madurai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad also participated in the meet. These children are from 53 schools, 24 gurukuls and four NGOs in the region. From the northern part of the country, nearly 200 students from 46 schools and 11 gurukuls joined the participated in the meet.

“I am delighted to be a part of HCL’s Sports for Change. It gives me immense pleasure to see these children full of enthusiasm and passion excel in these fields of sports. Sports is one of the basic pillars of growing up and I congratulate HCL for recognizing its importance and taking steps to inculcate the spirit of sportsmanship in these young children,” said Hon’ble Shri Mahesh Sharma. 

HCL Foundation recognizes sports as an important and crucial pillar for education and, through this platform, it has aimed to give the right exposure and opportunity to the children participating in the meet. It is the first time that HCL Foundation has organised a national sporting event of this scale, which culminated in Noida today.

Around 350 participants competed in the grand finals today to showcase their sporting skills.  These participants have been selected after state qualifiers in Chennai, Madurai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Noida.

Speaking at the event, Nidhi Pundhir, Director – CSR and Head, HCL Foundation said, “We, at HCL, have always believed in efforts to strengthen the community. Children learn the value of team building, positive attitude and attain physical and mental strength through sports. As part of our national reach, we also aim to work in schools and ensure basis amenities for children to play and take up sports as a part of education.”

Over the last few months, HCL Foundation volunteers have been continuously engaged in coaching and mentoring these children by honing their skills for a national level sports meet.  This year, more than 2,250 children benefitted from sporting events conducted by HCL Foundation. 

The National Sports Meet today hosted teams from South Zone (Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai) and North Zone (NCR, Lucknow) in the following events: Track events (100m, 200m, 400m & 1500m, Relay race (100X4), Kho-Kho, Kabbadi, Volleyball, Badminton, Chess & Carrom).

The event was flagged off today by Shri Brajesh Narain Singh, District Magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. On this occasion, he interacted with the participants and encouraged them to win laurels for their schools. Also, present were Shri Rupinder Singh, ex-national junior athletics champion, Ms Anita Rai, District Sports Officer, Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh and Bal Mukund Prasad, Zila Basic Shiksha Adhikari.

Follow us on twitter @csrboxorg