By Business India Editorial

Aarti and Jyoti Patil are national swimmers aiming to represent India in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. They broke the national record in 200 metre breaststroke organised by the Federation of India in 2015. Manasi Joshi is a para-badminton player from Ahmedabad. She was an active badminton player in school and participated in various tournaments before she met with an accident in Mumbai and lost her left leg. A passionate go-getter, her rigorous practice has established her as the World Para Badminton champion, helping her win the gold in the Spanish, Japan and Australian para-Badminton international in 2018. She was conferred The Eklavya Award – the highest Maharashtra Rajya Puraskar for sportsperson with disability in 2019.

The commonality between Aarti, Jyoti and Manasi is that they have been financially supported by Welspun for their travel across the globe for tournaments. The assistance includes participation fee and travel expenses and even prosthetics in the case of Manasi.

The foundation supports sportswomen from varied disciplines, enabling them to seek career opportunities by providing financial assistance. If a sportswoman is talented but lacks resources (which could be due to a physical disability, financial constraints or abject, below-the-poverty-line existence) and is striving to excel in her core area of performance, Welspun Foundation, in partnership with NEST (Nurturing and Excellence in Sports Trust), comes to her aid. Apart from helping in the execution process, the foundation also lends a hand in sourcing suitable candidates who are on a par with the objectives of the programme.

Robust and bias free

A thorough research is conducted to make the selection process absolutely robust and bias free. Initial research includes background verification, home visits, and meeting with coaches and trainers, that help in identifying the needs of a candidate, after which a budget is lined up in coherence with their needs or requirements which includes tournament travels, sports kits, nutrition, and food.