Noida golfer Arjun Bhati sells his trophies to donate Rs 4.3 lakh for COVID-19

Abhimanyu Mathur | TNN | Apr 9, 2020, 16:03 IST

Arjun Bhati with his trophies

When thousands across India are donating and contributing to various funds and charities to help in the fight against the pandemic, Noida’s teenager golfer Arjun Bhati found a novel way to support the cause. The Greater Noida resident, who is a two-time Kids’ Golf World Championship winner, sold all his 102 trophies that he had won in golf tournaments over the years to raise funds for fighting COVID-19. The task earned him praise from none other than Prime Minister Modi himself.
The 15-year-old golfer had already donated Rs 1 lakh that he had set aside for his equipment for the Junior World Championship this year. "But I felt that the doctors and medical professionals needed more and I should do more. I have won 102 trophies in national and international competitions over the years. I told my parents that I wanted to sell them off to raise money and donate all that too," Arjun tells us. His family, though, was aghast at the prospect. "I almost yelled at him," says Arjun’s father Bobby Bhati, adding, "He has worked so hard for those trophies over the last ten years and I did not like the idea of giving away all of them. But he convinced us, saying that the sacrifices of the frontline workers at this time were much greater."
Eventually, Arjun and his family sold all of his trophies online and collected the money generated – Rs 4.3 lakh – donating it to the PM CARES Fund. His act even got noticed by PM Narendra Modi, who tweeted his appreciation. "I will win the trophies again when I play. The achievements are close to my heart but the cause was worth this," says the teenager. However, he will not have to part with all of the trophies. His grandmother ‘bought’ one of them so that it would stay in the house. "She wasn’t happy about my trophy cupboard going bare so she contributed Rs 21,000 for one of my trophies," Arjun tells us.