The Hindu : Sport : Sehwag’s sweet moments with school kids

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Sehwag’s sweet moments with school kids

Sports Reporter

— Photo: K. Pichumani

MAN OF THE MOMENT: Virender Sehwag waves to his fans at the Velammal Matric School on Saturday.

Chennai: When Virender Sehwag stepped out of his SUV at the gate of Velammal School on Saturday, he was met by a guard of honour of diverse constituent parts. First he was greeted by the school’s cricket team and then by the primary school kids waving colourful pom-poms.

Sehwag then mounted a chariot, sporting a silk turban.

With nadaswarams leading the procession and a brass band playing tunes out of Spaghetti Westerns bringing up the rear, the chariot brought Sehwag to the stage.

The occasion was a felicitation ceremony organised by the school to honour 39 of its young sportspersons — who had won State and National level accolades in chess, throwball, fencing, karate, volleyball and kho-kho — with scholarships.

Sehwag distributed certificates individually to each of the winners, before all of them mounted the stage again to receive the combined scholarship cheque for Rs. 21 lakh.

Addressing the gathering, Sehwag said: “When I was in school, I used to wish that the people I admired, like Kapil Dev, would visit our school. But, unfortunately, that never happened.

“From then I’ve always thought that if I become famous, I must go meet schoolchildren. I wish these youngsters all the best, and who knows, some of the cricketers from this school might one day play for India too.”

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