Sahana Kumari, a little-known high jumper and the 14th Indian athlete to qualify for the London Olympics was finding it difficult to source funds to take her coach along. Some concerned citizens, through Ek Aur Prayaas, a socio-political platform spread the word and were able to garner support for Sahana.

A victorious 7-day campaign woke up the Karnataka government to support Shahana Kumari as well as 11 other athletes from the state who will represent India at the London Olympics. How did it happen? Ek Aur Prayaas (a socio-political platform), started by Jaymin Panchal and Anil Kohli was approached by concerned citizens such as Vikram Bondal and his father Mahesh Bondal to support Sahana Kumari and other athletes.  Project “High Jump to Olympics” was envisaged to raise funds for the purpose.

She is India’s current national record holder with 1.92 meters and one of our medal hopes for the London Olympics. But she stands a chance only if she has the right training and mental support right until the does her final jump. Unfortunately, when it comes to anything other than cricket, funds are a serious problem.

India’s medal tally in the history of the Olympic games, every since we first participated in 1900 is a meager 17 medals—eight gold, four silver and five bronze. Except the last Olympics, when India Abhinav Bindra brought home India’s first gold medal, it has always been the same story – public outrage and screaming headlines lamenting the poor performance of our sportspersons, lack of training and infrastructure and criticism of sports bodies dominated by politicians. But nothing ever changes.  

The Indian Olympics Association’s (IOA) preparation  for the London Olympics was no much different. The IOA is sending a 148 strong contingent approved by the sports ministry; but only 81 of these are athletes and there are 35 coaches; the rest are government officials.
 

Our high-jump champion, Sahana Kumari, a resident of Kotekar village in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka is a clerk with the South Western Railway.

And although she is a national record holder and is being trained by Russian coach Nikitin Evgeny, a world-renowned trainer, there weren’t enough funds to meet the expenses of her coach going along to London or meet several other costs. The Indian Olympics Association (IOA), tied down in redtape would not pay for Nikitin Evgeny since he is not a part of the official Indian contingent. The total cost involved was estimated at Rs7-Rs8 lakh, of which around Rs3 lakh would cover the coach’s traveling expense while the rest would cover her training, equipment and miscellaneous expenses. 

Ek Aur Prayaas decided to raise funds by using social media to advantage. It posted information about Sahana Kumari’s predicament on its website with details of the bank account where contributions could be sent. It then used Facebook and Twitter to spread the word. The team then watch the effort with apprehension and excitement. However, financial contributions began to trickle in and well wishers also helped spread the message by sharing and re-tweeting it.

Soon Zee News noticed the effort and did a story on Sahana Kumari’s plight. Professor ND Agarwal, who watch the show stepped forward and offered to pay the coach’s expenses. Later Mumbai Mirror also wrote about the effort as did Rediff.com.
 

Ek Aur Prayaas also contacted influencers who in turn spoke to government officials. Finally, the effort paid off and the Karnataka government took notice of the relentless efforts. It then sprang a happy surprise by announcing Rs5 lakh to each of the 12 athletes from Karnataka who will represent India at the London Olympics. Ek Aur Prayaas has not decided that its objective is more than met and the fund raising campaign has been closed. The group believes that it is not enough to felicitate winners, it is more important to facilitate the participation of athletes, so that they gain experience, become role models and inspire youngsters to look at sports and athletics as a serious career option.

They are also jubilant at being able to use social media successfully to reach more people and create enough pressure to pressure to the relevant authorities to wake up and make the right decisions.
 

Ek Aur Prayaas’ drive to financially assist Sahana Kumari has another benefit – it has created a nice support group to cheer this champion athlete at the London Olympics among people who knew nothing about her until just a week ago.