UPAY organised Umang 2019 – Sports Day on Sunday. The event was inaugurated by Indian cricketer Umesh Yadav. Guest of honour was Ranjit Rath (CMD MECL) Prominently present were Promod Kumar IRS (Director NADT) and businessman Rohit Agarwal.Earlier, PV Sindhu spoke about this event to enhance awareness about UPAYs work for underprivileged children. Umesh Yadav shared his experiences of sports. He said that sports brings people of all social classes together and gives equal opportunities to all. He also said that anybody can achieve success with hardwork, no matter from where he comes from. 600 students from Nagpur and Mouda participated in Athletics, Kabaddi, Kho Kho, Sack Race, Dodge ball and Long Jump. Street children of Santra market Footpathshala outperformed the competition and excelled despite no facilities. Avinash Pantawane (former Director of Phy. Education Nagpur University) identified talented street children and UPAY plans to develop this talent in a structured manner.International badminton player Arundhati Pantawane was present and encouraged children to take up sports.
Long time supporter of UPAY and corporator Dayashankar Tiwari visited and flagged off the relay races. He has supported UPAY Footpathshala at Santra Market since the last 2 years and encouraged the children.
The chief guest for closing ceremony was Vijay Barse (Slum Soccer founder).Youth from various colleges and companies like Persistent, Excellon etc volunteered to mentor the participants.
UPAY is a decade old NGO educating the most deprived children of society since 2010. UPAY started in Kumbhari in Mouda with 15 children and today, it teaches 2000 children at 39 centers across 7 Indian cities. It has inculcated extracurricular activities like sports, music, dance etc in its curriculum to engage with children more effectively and provide non academic opportunities for children who can’t afford higher education.