Mumbai-based entrepreneur Aaryan Singh Kushwah’s social media post about his Ola driver has gone viral on social media. Kushwah revealed that the driver, Parag Patil, had been an Olympian.
“My Ola driver is an Olympian,” the 17-year-old entrepreneur wrote.
Aaryan shared on LinkedIn that Parag, a senior Olympian, had represented India in athletics, earning two golds, 11 silvers and three bronzes in international events. Parag excelled in the Triple Jump and Long Jump, ranking second and third in Asia, respectively.
Despite his achievements, Aaryan revealed that Parag struggles financially, with no sponsors and barely enough funds to support his family or continue his athletic career.
“Yet he has no sponsors and just enough funds to feed his family, let alone pursue his athletic career. This post is a call to action for anyone that can help sponsor Paras to represent and win for India internationally,” Kushwah wrote on social media.
Parag’s story highlights a larger issue. According to sports analysts, many Indian athletes, despite bringing glory to the country, face financial neglect. Years of rigorous training often lead to international success, but the lack of funding forces them into unrelated jobs for survival.
“This is a real problem. We have multiple talent management agencies for influences in India but none for sports men / women, it could potentially be a huge untapped market,” commented one social media user.
Kushwah's earlier post
Kushwah was earlier in the news after sharing a post after having been rejected by Stanford. He expressed gratitude for the opportunity and vowing to come back stronger.
"Bittersweet day, rejected from Stanford, hit 220k total users, hit our first 2 million impression day, $10k emergent grant got approved. Tough loss but gotta come back stronger. Grateful I had the opportunity to apply, grateful I felt badly about the loss. All in God's glory," he wrote.
