Sunrisers Hyderabad players led by head coach Tom Moody visited Apollo Medical College on Thursday to present the other side of their cricket careers and give a reassuring touch to the 70 hearing-impaired girls.
The players – Rashid Khan, Carlos Brathwaite, Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul – joined the celebrations of these children who are beneficiaries of Hearing Impaired Girl Child Project (HIGCP), an initiative of the Apollo Hospitals and SAHI.
“There is nothing more remarkable for cricketers who achieve so much on the field than to be here,” said Moody after felicitating some of the young girls.
“We are privileged to be part of this initiative and these are the gestures that make us feel proud for giving back something to the society,” Moody said.
For her part, Upasana Kamineni, vice-chairperson of Apollo Foundation, said they were blessed to have such angels on the Apollo premises. “We all have genuine concern for these kids and try our best to help them in the best possible manner,” she said. “We are grateful to the Sunrisers Hyderabad for being the brand ambassadors for this project,” she added.
E.C. Vinaya Kumar, who is part of the project, revealed that each cochlear implant normally costs about $15,000 to $20,000 and is out of reach of many underprivileged sections in India. “It’s this strata as well as girl children that we are targeting as we felt girls are at greater risk of facing abuse both physically and mentally,” he said.
“With these implants, we are sure the lifestyles of these kids will change for good,” he added.
