Indian women cricket team's 16-year-old Richa Ghosh donates Rs 1 lakh in fight against coronavirus

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked citizens for help to help fight the spread of coronavirus in India, many sports celebrities and sporting bodies have come ahead to help in this hour of need.

Adding her contribution as well, all-rounder Richa Ghosh, on Sunday donated Rs 1 lakh to the Bengal Chief Minister’s relief fund in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 16-year-old had represented India in the Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this month. Her father handed over a cheque of Rs 1 Lakh to Siliguri District Magistrate Sumanta Sahay.“When everybody is fighting COVID-19 and the chief minister has appealed for a united battle against it, I thought of contributing a bit as a responsible citizen of the country,” Richa said.

The young girl had made her debut in the tri-series in Australia before the T20 World Cup and her, along with Shafali Verma were the two 16-year-olds to have played the final for India. India had however lost the encounter to Australia by 85 runs on March 8.

As many as 66 match observers have contributed Rs 2,000 each with one contributing Rs 18,000 on behalf of ex observers making the total amount of Rs 1,50,000 towards West Bengal State Emergency Fund. 

The amount would be transferred initially by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and deducted from the dues of these observers.

Similarly, 82 numbers of scorers contributed their day’s pay aggregating to an amount of Rs 77,420. The scorers have also made similar requests to CAB to pay initially and later deduct the amount from their payments, IANS reported.

The representative of Mohammedan Sporting Club at the CAB, Dipak Singh also donated Rs 2 lakh to the Relief Fund. Former Women’s Test Player Mithu Mukherjee has expressed her desire to contribute Rs 25,000.

Not just them, coach of Bengal Women's U23 team, Jayanta Ghosh Dastidar also would contribute Rs 10,000. While units like White Border Club and Vijay Sports Club would be donating Rs 50,000 each through CAB, IANS reported.

The Uttar Pally Milan Sangha, Suburban Club, and Rangers Club would be making contributions of Rs 25,000 each via CAB. Among the District Sports Associations (DSA), Coochbehar DSA agreed to donate Rs 10,000 to the State Relief Fund.