- Prestigious MS Dhoni Scholarship instituted by LPU for students and sportspersons excelling in cricket
- The aim of the scholarship is to provide access to quality education to those with outstanding talent in cricket:Ashok Mittal, LPU Chancellor
- This sort of support and encouragement will help talent blossom: Dhoni
Jalandhar August 11: The Lovely Professional University (LPU), India’s largest private university, has instituted a cricket scholarship on the name of cricketing sensation Mahender Singh Dhoni as part of its endeavor provide access to quality education to those with outstanding talent in the sport.
Dhoni launched the scholarship during his recent visit to the LPU campus here. The duration of these five prestigious MS Dhoni-LPU scholarships is for three years.
The scholarship is meant for international level cricket players, Ranji Trophy medalists and inter-university finalists who can pursue undergraduate or post-graduate studies at the university. The scholarship includes tuition fee, residential accommodation and food charges. In effect, a student with exceptional cricket can take up a subject of his choice and study at this prestigious private university free of charge and avail all the facilities there is on its state of the arts campus.
Speaking to a large gathering of cheering students, exhilarated by skipper presence in their midst, Dhoni said, “There is no dearth of sport talent in the country, the need is to give them this sort of support and encouragement and help them blossom.”
Explaining the rationale for instituting the scholarship, Mr Ashok Mittal, chancellor, Lovely Professional University said, “India seems to be doing brilliantly in the field of education; our academics are valued everywhere in the world, we need to bring the same excellence to sports and one way to do this is to institute scholarships and chairs for sportspersons.”
The idea of the scholarship is to promote students with talent and love for cricket with access to the best education. Both the University and the Indian skipper believe that money should not be a constraint for outstanding sports-persons in getting quality education.
The former cricket captain had an interesting interactive session with students on the campus. He shared his insights and experience and regaled them with stories from his inspiring journey from a railway ticket collector to an ace cricketer. Dhoni was accompanied by Neeraj Pandey, director of an upcoming Bollywood a biopic on the cricketing icon. It was indeed a red-letter day for the University and its students who felt elated by the presence of the high-profile guests.Lovely Group Chairman Mr Ramesh Mittal, Vice-Chairman Mr Naresh Mittal, LPU Chancellor Mr Ashok Mittal, Pro Chancellor Mrs Rashmi Mittal were present on the occasion and accorded warm welcome to the guests.