Sunil Chettri and Indian Football Team Contribute With Undisclosed Donation to Fight Coronavirus

New Delhi: Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri said in a tweet that the members of the team have come together and "put on table a sum that has been sent to the PM-Cares Fund" to help in the fight against coronavirus.

Chhetri added that the reason why he is mentioning this on Twitter is so others who have the capacity to make donations are inspired to do so.

"We've always received more than we can give. Which is why in this time of need, all of us national team players have come together and put on the table a sum that has been sent to the PM-Cares Fund to help India's fight with the pandemic," said Chhetri in a series of tweets.

"It's been heartening to see everyone -- cutting across caps, goals, age and experience -- give, and give with a smile. When word got out, even some who have long stopped pulling on an India shirt, turned up and asked to be counted. That's what a team is all about.

"The ONLY reason we're talking about this here is so that it can gently prod those who have been fortunate enough to get, to give back. We're in this together."

The All India Football Federation also said that midfielder Pronoy Halder has taken up the responsibility of providing food to some underprivileged kids who earn their bread on daily basis.

"There are a lot of underprivileged kids at the Barrackpore Mangal Pandey Football Coaching Camp who earn on a daily basis. The situation is a bit difficult now. So I am helping procure food, or food items for them to come out of the crisis," Halder said.

"I know that there are also many who stay around the Barrackpore Railway Station and they are struggling for food. So me along with some of my friends are distributing basic food items to the station-dwellers, and others who stay outside."

In addition, the midfielder has also donated INR 20,000/- to the CM relief fund.

Meanwhile, 'Players for Humanity' -- the philanthropic organisation formed by the former players like Mehtab Hossain, Rahim Nabi, Denson Devadas, Sandip Nandy, Debabrata Roy and others along with current players like Pritam Kotal, Pronay Halder, Arindam Bhattacharjee, Prabir Das, Souvik Chakraborty, Debjit Majumder and many more have also initiated talks to stand together and help during this challenging phase.

The national team's two World Cup qualifiers matches earlier scheduled in March and June were postponed due to the worsening pandemic. The country, which is in the midst of a 21-day lockdown, has seen 35 deaths and have more than one thousand active cases.

(With inputs from Agencies)