Samsung to support seven athletes

Durables major Samsung India Electronics today kicked off its Olympic programme for the Beijing 2008 Olympics by announcing the Samsung Scholarship Program to support seven top Indian athletes.

Patterned on the Olympic Solidarity Fund, the Samsung Scholarship Program will support the training expenses of the players for a period of one year between October 2007 and September 2008.

The Olympic Ratnas, as they have been named by Samsung, are Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Abhinav Bindra, Anjali Bhagwat, Avneet Kaur Sidhu, Dola Banerjee and A L Lakra.

H B Lee, president and CEO, Samsung South West Asia Head Quarters, and Suresh Kalmadi, president, Indian Olympic Association, also signed a memorandum of understanding at a joint press conference today. "Our Olympic programme seeks to support the training and needs of these seven, high potential, high calibre athletes who, we hope, can return from Beijing with medals for the country. Hence the term Olympic Ratna for them," said Lee.

Shooting champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu has been named the Olympic Brand Ambassador by Samsung India.

Suresh Kalmadi expressed hope that the scholarships should help the team yield strong and positive results in the form of richer medal tally for the country. 

Ravinder Zutshi, deputy managing director, Samsung India, said: "It has been a continuous endeavour to bring alive the pride and spirit of Olympics for our Indian consumers. Over the coming few months, we will continue to organise Olympic-related events in India to build interest and support for the Olympics and the Indian team."