Cricket Icon Yuvraj Inaugurates Sports Stadium At Shoolini

SHAINA CHAUHAN

Internationally acclaimed cricket legend Yuvraj Singh, who is also a cancer survivor, inaugurated a Sports Stadium named Yuvraj Stadium on the Shoolini University campus on October 3. Yuvraj, who was given a warm welcome by the faculty and students on his arrival, was on the campus to encourage the students who had been working for his NGO, YouWeCan.

The NGO works for the welfare of cancer survivors and helps out those in need. For the last three years, the students of Shoolini University have been part of YouWeCan social project which is involved in the detection and treatment of cancer. The students have been holding awareness drives and organising detection camps supported by doctors in different areas of Himachal Pradesh.

Yuvraj planted a tree sapling on the university campus. As a symbolic gesture, he was asked to plant a Kashmiri willow which is used for making cricket bats. He then played cricket for a while with the members of the YouWeCan team. Also, he had a separate meeting with the members of YouWeCan volunteers where the students showcased their contributions so far. He appreciated the work done by them and complimented their commitment.

He later attended a function at the Open-Air Theatre which overflowed with students. He distributed prizes and certificates to students who had been actively participating in the YouWeCan project and also special star awards were given to students who had done exceptionally well outside the classroom. In a short speech delivered by him where he also said The service you do for others without any selfish motive is of the highest kind.

He later met Vice-Chancellor Prof PK Khosla, the trustees of the university and senior faculty members over tea. Prof Khosla presented him with a book The Autobiography of a Yogi which Yuvraj accepted and promised to read.

Yuvraj, who had helped India win several international matches, hit six sixes in a single over during the 2007 ICC World Cup. He holds the record for fastest T20 fifty by scoring the runs in 12 balls against England and became the first all-rounder to score 300 plus runs and to take 15 wickets in a single World Cup. He was detected with a cancerous tumour in 2011.

In March 2012, Yuvraj was discharged from hospital after completing the third and final cycle of chemotherapy and returned to India and finally staged a remarkable comeback into the Indian national team. The same year he set up the YouWeCan Foundation, a non-profitable organisation.

The Foundation aims to help cancer patients and survivors to get access to treatment including raising funds for underprivileged patients. It also supports survivors through rehabilitation and creating a better life for themselves without having to live in the shadow of the disease. The focus is to educate the masses so that nobody fights cancer alone, and towards creating awareness and eradicating socio-psychological stigma attached with cancer, as per the aims of the NGO.