25/11/2014
In their endeavour to support and encourage the sports community at large, Guardian Corporation recently hosted a twin initiative for the Olympic Gold Quest(OGQ) family. The OGQ have set upon themselves a national charter of scouting for potential medal talent within India with a view of then supporting the identified athletes for winning Olympic gold medals.
The initiatives were program managed by Team White Copper and were conducted in the cities of Kolhapur and Pune within the state of Maharashtra. Held back to back on the 17 November in Kolhapur and 18 November in Pune, the events were extremely engaging and highlighted the single minded effort of OGQ, in pursuit of their vision.
At the Kolhapur chapter, as many as 15 athletes attended the event amongst which 3 were Olympic medallists. Shooter Gagan Narang, Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, Pistol Shooter Rahi Sarnobat, Boxer Shiva Thapa, Shooter Ayonika Paul, Shooter Apurvi Chandela, Pistol Shooter Shweta Chaudhary, Pistol Shooter Prakash Nanjappa, Shooter Sanjeev Rajput, Archer Tarundeep Rai, Shooter Annu Raj Singh, Walker K T Irfan, Shooter Pooja Ghatkar and Shooter Heena Sidhu lit up the event with their presence.
The Chief Guest for the event was Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj who acknowledged and appreciated the OGQ team, their mandate and the effort thereon. The Chief Guest felicitated all the players and OGQ directors Rakesh Khanna and Geet Sethi. He also felicitated Manish Sabade for his outstanding support for OGQ.
The event was also set out to be a fund raiser and with support from many city dignitaries a sizeable amount was raised, for the OGQ mission.
From where the event moved on to Pune for the second leg. It was a grand extension to the Kolhapur one and the Pune audience was thrilled to see the OGQ athletes in person. Barring Yogeshwar Dutt, who had to excuse himself, there was a bevy of athletes whose presence inspired the audience.
The guest list of the Pune chapter included Leela Poonawalla, Firoz Poonawalla, Gajendra Pawar, Mr. Sharma (Director DSK), Sachin Kulkarni and Sudhir Darode amongst many other dignitaries.
Notably, for the fund raiser, the patrons came forward and wholeheartedly donated towards the fund to be raised. Special mention of Ms Sanjana Takale has to be made here, who donated a sum of INR 1 lakh towards OGQ from her personal savings! The event was further embellished with the presence of the superb Raj Vadgama who has set upon himself to run the 'Bharathon'.
Of the 10000 kilometres Bharathon road route, Raj has covered 5500 kilometres in the last two months! Team OGQ felicitated Raj and wished him well for the remainder of his run! Truly inspiring!
Manish Sabade was once again felicitated by Rakesh Khanna, Geet Sethi, Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar for his outstanding support to OGQ.
We, at Team White Copper have put together a few pictures that will bring out all the fun and excitement at the twin chapters of the Olympic Gold Quest!