World & Olympic champion to be in India to campaign for Road Safety World Series
- Blake named Road Safety Champion of West Indies Legends team
- He will undertake various activities to create awareness towards road safety in the country
- The champion runner is looking forward to his “fan-boy” moment with Sachin Tendulkar
Mumbai,: World and Olympic 100m and 200m champion Yohan Blake of Jamaica will be in India to promote the Road Safety World Series — the T20 cricket event which will be played between legends of India, Australia, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka in February next year. Blake, who is one of the favourites to win gold in 100m and 200m events at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, will arrive in India during the first week of December to undertake various activities to create awareness towards road safety in the country where around 1,50,000 people are killed and more than 4,50,000 people are critically injured in road accidents every year.
Blake was shocked when he heard that one person dies every four minutes in India and out of every hundred people dying in the world, 30 are Indians. Talking about his visit to India and the initiative to create awareness towards road safety through sports, an excited Blake said, “I have heard a lot about India and I always wanted to visit this wonderful country. I should thank the Road Safety World Series team for making this happen. I am aware about the number of deaths due to road accidents in India, I am also aware of cricket’s popularity in the country and how the fans idolise cricketers here. The Road Safety World Series is such a wonderful initiative — integrating sports with a noble cause to save human lives. I was blown away the moment I heard about it! Hats off to the organizers for coming up with such a concept.”
“Given India’s love for cricket, I am sure that the organizers will be able to achieve what they intend to through this series. Now that I am associated with this cause, I will do my best to spread the word, not only in India, but across the globe as road safety is a serious concern worldwide. I am happy to be associated with this cause, because, it also gives me an opportunity to give something back to the society. Not many might know, but I also like cricket and I am a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar. I will make sure that I get to meet him and take his autograph during my stay,” said Blake who is also the Road Safety Champion for the West Indies Legends team.
Every nation featuring in the Road Safety World Series will have a Road Safety Champion who will work relentlessly to promote the cause of road safety in and around the world. The Road Safety World Series is not just a sporting event but a movement to save human lives by creating awareness and changing people’s outlook towards road safety. The Series will feature Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies legend Brian Lara among a host of other legendary cricketers like Brett Lee, Virender Sehwag, Muthiah Muralitharan etc. Sachin Tendulkar is also the Brand Ambassador of the series whereas Sunil Gavaskar is the Commissioner of the series. In the first edition, the series will be played in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune.
Welcoming Blake’s association with the Road Safety World Series, Mr Ravi Gaikwad, RTO Chief of Thane (Konkan Range), who is also a senior member of the Road Safety Cell of Maharashtra and Chairman of the Trust, Shant Bharat Surakshit Bharat, said: “I can’t express in words how happy and excited I am to see Yohan Blake coming forward to support the cause of road safety in India. I have, time and again, mentioned that it is of utmost importance that people from all walks of life come forward to support this initiative because the impact of these losses are far greater than just statistical numbers—it destroys families. Lot of people out there are also suffering because of someone else’s mistakes. We need to take this initiative seriously, we need to educate the people and make them aware of their responsibilities. We need to create opportunities to save as many lives as possible on Indian roads. With Blake coming in to support this initiative, I am sure we will be able to achieve the desired goal.”
Mr. Ravi Gaikwad, who himself was an U-15, U-17 and U-19 cricketer and attended the Ranji Trophy camp apart from being a H. Sc. state topper, engineering gold medallist and scientist before joining RTO said, “In India, we love and adore our sports personalities. We like to follow them and listen to what they say, and that is what we want to do in this series—spread the message across through sports and sports personalities which are followed closely by everyone in this country. The Road Safety World Series is not just a cricket tournament but a platform to achieve a much greater goal towards humanity as a whole.”
Road Safety World Series is supported by Viacom 18 with Colors Cineplex being the broadcast partner, and VOOT and Jio as digital partner.
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