Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has sanctioned Rs. 2.5 lakh to Joseph James, former Indian powerlifting coach and double gold medallist in Asian championships.
It has been done under the joint collaboration of Sports Authority of India, the Indian Olympic Association and the MYAS to support former international athletes and coaches during the current pandemic under the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay’s National Welfare for Sportspersons scheme.
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The 55-year-old former powerlifting champion, now working as a Physical Education Teacher in St. Michael’s School and staying in Hyderabad for the last 35 years, developed serious breathing issues on April 24 after contracting COVID-19. His oxygen levels were low and the family had to admit him at the Vivekananda Hospital in the city. He was in ICU for about a week and was discharged on May 5. He is stable now and under home quarantine.
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James informed
Sportstar that the Telangana Olympic Association treasurer K. Maheshwar got in touch with them and initiated the procedure for this financial assistance. “We are grateful to the TOA general secretary K. Jagdishwar Yadav for following up our case with the Centre and ensuring that I got this financial assistance,” he said.
"It’s really great help from the Ministry at this time when even it is difficult to get support from our families and friends. I am obliged that the Sports Authority of India has remembered us when we were in need,” Alica Joe, daughter of Joseph James, said.
“On behalf of the entire TOA and the entire sports fraternity of Telangana, we are grateful to the MYAS, SAI and the IOA for their gesture. These are the things which lift the morale of the sportspersons who are in dire straits,” Yadav said.
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