Speech and hearing impaired tennis player Parul Gupta gets aid from State government

Mr. Majithia handing over the cheque to Parul Gupta

Parul Gupta, a speech and hearing impaired lawn tennis player, recently represented India in the Deaf and Dumb Olympics in Sofia, Bulgaria between July 26 – August 6 this year. She took part after having received some specialised training from the Performance Academy in Bengaluru.

Now, the Punjab government has come forward to help out Parul and provide her with the best possible facilities to help in her career development. Yesterday, we had reported that the state government had plans to establish centres of excellence for sport in the state with the purpose of aiding athletes in their development.

Bikram Singh Majithia, Information and Public Relations and Revenue Minister for Punjab, presented a cheque of Rs. 2 lakh to Parul in recognition of her achievement and as an incentive to continue pursuing her sporting dreams.

Mr. Majithia extended his congratulations to Parul’s parents as well and also assured them that the state government would do everything possible to try and get the best possible training and coaching for their daughter.

He went on to add that Parul had made not just the state of Punjab proud with her achievements, but also the whole country as well as other athletes.

Besides representing India at the Deaf and Dumb Olympics, Parul has won gold medals at the 18th National Lawn Tennis Championship for the Deaf and Dumb in April earlier this year in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

She also won the gold in the same competition last year, when it was held in Patiala.

Parul also has to her name, a silver medal from the Punjab School Women Championship in October 2011 as well as the 57th National School Games in December 2011.

Parul’s dream now is to go abroad and win more medals for India on the international stage starting with the U.S. World Open Lawn Tennis Championship for deaf and dumb happening in 2014 and the next edition of the Deaf and Dumb Olympics in Istanbul in 2017.

Mr. Majithia spoke at length about the government’s comprehensive sports policy which involves investment in sporting infrastructure to the tune of over Rs. 200 crore. He also added that deserving sportspersons would be given sufficient recognition in their chosen field along with support in terms of reservation in government jobs.