Wrestler Pooja Gehlot champions girl rights with Smile Foundation

Indian wrestler and CWG 2022 medallist Pooja Gehlot has joined hands with Smile Foundation to champion the cause of girl children. She paid a visit to the organisation’s premises and met a batch of girl children.

She interacted with the children and spoke about her arduous yet incredible journey to glory. Coming from a modest background, Ms Gehlot urged the youngsters to have dreams and encouraged them never to give up in the face of hardships.

“Smile Foundation is doing a commendable job. I am glad to be associated with the cause of girl children. It was really nice interacting with the children and sharing my life experiences with them,” Gehlot said. “Sometimes we have to commit ourselves to a large goal so that we touch innumerable lives, be it social development, sports or nation building. Then we discover our untapped potential,” she added. 

 Pooja Gehlot won the bronze medal in the Women’s Freestyle in the 50 kg category in the Commonwealth Games, 2022. However, she was apologetic for not finishing top and thereby not being able to hear the national anthem play during the presentation ceremony. This prompted the Prime Minister of India to tweet: “Pooja, your medal calls for celebrations, not an apology. Your life journey motivates us, your success gladdens us. You are destined for great things ahead…keep shining!”

 “We are happy to partner with Ms Pooja Gehlot, a budding youth icon and an inspiring athlete. This is going to inspire thousands of girl children and young women across our projects to dream big and become champions in various areas of their lives,” said Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation.

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families every year through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 26 states.