Para power at infinity cycle ride
Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan flagged off the seventh edition of The Infinity Ride hosted by Aditya Mehta Foundation (AMF) from Hyderabad to Gokarna in Karnataka with the theme ‘Say No to Drugs.’
The ride started at the AMF Infinity Para Sports Academy & Rehabilitation Centre in Rasoolpura, Hyderabad. It got off to a colourful start with actress Lakshmi Manchu and entrepreneur Shilpa Reddy joining the ride for some distance.
Others, including cyclists from Telangana Police, Narcotics Control Bureau, Karnataka Police, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, members of the Indian para cycling team and amateur cyclists, will ride the distance of 660 kilometres to Gokarna on the coast of
the Arabian sea.
Addressing the gathering, the Governor congratulated Aditya Mehta for choosing the theme of ‘Say no to drugs’ for this year’s run.
“My message to the youngsters is, proper use
of drug for illness leads to health and drug abuse will create illness and lead to death. As doctors we use drugs to save lives while youngsters use it in a wrong way and get addicted to them, which impact mental attitude and physical wellbeing, so please say no to drugs,” she said.
“It is of great concern of late that drug abuse is starting at the school level itself. We need to address it with all sincerity. The para athletes here are an inspiration to able bodied individuals — despite the challenges you have, you are on a cycle ride to spread the message on drug abuse,” she added.
“The Aditya Mehta Foundation (AMF), besides proactively promoting para-sports, adopts children with disability, trains them in para-sports and grooms them into prospective para-Olympians for the country. The AMF raises funds though this signature fund raising Infinity Ride and enjoys the support of several celebrities like Lakshmi Manchu and Shilpa Reddy,” said Aditya Mehta, founder, AMF, India’s first-ever para cyclist and a Limca
Book of World Records holder.
“The para-athletes here inspire us by pushing the boundaries that we ourselves can’t accomplish in our regular day. I did 100 kms cycling to raise funds for AMF this year. I thank all my friends and donors for the support,” Lakshmi Manchu said at the event.
The Infinity Ride is being pursued by some of the stalwart para-athletes such as Prakhar Sharma, Aryavardan, Shaik Arshad, Aditya Mehta, Venu, Alok Mandal, Mala Abhishek and Mahesh Yadav.