HYDERABAD: Strike three. The brand count continues to add up for Hima Das since her Gold medal win at the IAAF World U20 Championships in July. Edelweiss Group, leading diversified financial services conglomerate, has signed India’s teenaged sprint sensation to its roster of women athletes.
With this addition, Edelweiss now supports six of India’s iconic women sports champions, including womens hockey captain Rani Rampal, shooter Heena Sidhu, paddler Manika Batra, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu and gymnast Dipa Karmakar.
Assam’s 18-year-old “Dhing Express”, who is managed by IOS Ventures, now has three endorsement deals under her belt since returning from the Asian Games with a Silver in the 400m and Gold in the 400m relay – German sportswear giant adidasState Bank of India and Edelweis, which was announced at the weekend.
Recognising the power of sports as an enabler for women empowerment, Edelweiss has been encouraging athletes to pursue their dreams fearlessly and continue to achieve newer milestones while it creates, grows and protects their wealth, a company release states.
As part of this endeavor, Edelweiss has offered each of these six iconic women athletes a life insurance cover of Rs 10 million and a health insurance cover of Rs 1 million. Further recognizing their stellar performance at the Asian Games 2018 and the CWG 2018, Edelweiss Group has rewarded these athletes with an investible corpus of Rs 500,000 that will offer them long term financial security.
Congratulating the athletes, Rashesh Shah, chairman & CEO, Edelweiss Group said: “Sports is close to our hearts and we are proud to be associated with some of the leading women sports icons of the country. They are true champions and inspire women across geographies each time their achievements raise the Indian tricolour. Sports in India is experiencing a growth trajectory and we intend to catalyse its path by taking care of the athletes’ financial needs. Through our support, we wish to ensure that no athlete has any hesitation in pursuing sports as career.”
“Our vision is to create an ecosystem where sports emerges as a serious career option. We will work towards facilitating this by providing financial security to fulfill their aspirations. The #BeUnlimited spirit is in our group’s DNA and we remain committed towards investing in many more upcoming women sports champions in our optimum capacity.” he added.
Edelweiss also announced that three of their six sports champions were recently honoured with some of the most prestigious sports-led awards by the government of India i.e. Padma Shri and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for Mirabai Chanu and Arjuna Award for Hima Das and Manika Batra.
Edelweiss has a long-term commitment to sports, which resonates with its own culture of excellence. Earlier through its philanthropic arm – EdelGive Foundation, the Group has supported several women athletes like MC Mary Kom, PV Sindhu and Ayonika Paul, taking care of their training, nutrition, physiotherapy etc.
