Cairn India Limited – the largest private sector crude oil producer in India – has felicitated three high-potential para-athletes, including one female athlete hailing from Rajasthan, on January 25, 2017. The felicitation ceremony was a part of Cairn India’s Republic Day celebrations at the company’s corporate office in Gurugram. It was a step towards fulfilling the company’s commitment of promoting sports and healthcare in the country.The para-athletes felicitated at the program were Shatabdi Awasthi, Sundar Singh Gurjar, Sandeep Singh Maan and the members of the Paralympics team under the Paralympics Committee of India and Para Sports Association of Rajasthan bodies. Cairn India is sponsoring these athletes for one year for their training and participation in state, national and international para-athletics events. The total value of this sponsorship is Rs 24.81 lakhs approximately. The athletes were presented bouquets and mock checks of the first installment of the sponsorship amount by a senior executive from Cairn.Shatabdi Awasthi, the 31 yrs old employee of State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, hailing from Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan.
She bettered Rio Paralympics Gold Medal winning throw of 4.76 m in Shot Put by Fatema Nedham of Bahrain with a throw of 5.45 m during the recently concluded 7th State Level Para Athletics Championship 2016. Deepa Malik won the Silver Medal in the same event of Rio Paralympics with a throw of 4.61 m. Shatabdi has also won Gold Medal in Javelin with a throw of 11.25 m & Discus with a throw of 8.60 m during the State Level Para Athletics Championship during Dec 2016.Sundar Singh Gurjar, 21 years old from Karauli Distt in Rajasthan, won the Gold Medal in Javelin throw event in 8th Fazza IPC Athletics Grand Prix, Dubai in 2016 and created a national record with 68.42m during the 16th Para Athletics National Championship in Panchkula. Sandeep Singh Maan, 23 years old from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan is a three times Silver Medalist from Asian Para Games, 4 times medalist in World Para Games, 10 Grand Prix medals and Arjuna Awardee 2016.The program presented a great opportunity for Cairn India’s employees to interact with the para-athletes to understand their challenges and derive inspiration.Cairn India is committed to develop and promote sports in the country and support the sports persons in their path to achieving excellence.