Actor Sonu Sood, who supported thousands of people today through the coronavirus-induced lockdown, has continued his excellent work via his charity, the Sood Foundation. Mr Sood and his charity lately helped a struggling shooter from Jharkhand purchase an imported rifle. The actor got to know about Konica Layak when she tagged him in a tweet back in January. “In the 11th Jharkhand State Rifle Shooting Championship, I won a silver and a gold medal. However, the government has not helped me at all. Please help me with one rifle,” Ms Layak wrote in her appeal, tagging Sonu Sood along with a handful of ministries and government officials.
Konica Layak, who hails from Dhanbad, had been relying on rifles borrowed from her coach or her pals, regardless of qualifying for nationals twice. Mr Sood responded to her appeal in March, assuring her that she would quickly get a rifle.
“I cannot have my own rifle as it costs nearly Rs 3 lakh. I had to depend on my coach rifle or on my friend. I had arranged Rs 80,000 from my friends and taken Rs 1 lakh as loan for the rifle and fortunately Sonu Sood Foundation arranged the remaining funds for the rifle and I have already placed the order. The Germany-made rifle would be reaching me in two and half months,” Ms Layak had told The Telegraph back in March.
On Saturday, when the rifle ultimately reached Ms Layak, she took to Twitter to thank Sonu Sood. “Sir, my rifle is here,” she wrote in Hindi, tagging the actor. “A wave of happiness has spread in my family and the whole village is blessing you,” she added.
Responding to the shooter’s thank you message, Mr Sood wrote: “India’s gold medal in the Olympics is confirmed. We just need prayers now.”
इंडिया का ओलंपिक मेडल पक्का ????
बस अब दुआओं की जरूरत.@SoodFoundation ???????? https://t.co/NkoRkDfvAx— sonu sood (@SonuSood) June 26, 2021
The tweet has registed more than 14,500 ‘likes’ and hundreds of comments – a lot of from people today praising the actor for his work.
“Heartfelt thanks to you from Konica’s city,” wrote one particular person in the comments section. “Great work sir,” a different stated.
For Konica Layak, the rifle will make a world of distinction. “With the rifle I can practice in my own time and also get admission in the Joydeep Karmakar Shooting Academy at Calcutta in order to hone my skills and stay in medal hunts at national and international competitions,” she stated.