Zee Media BureauNew Delhi: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which is an awareness drive, that started in America, has now become a rage in social media worldwide.
The Bucket Challenge is a campaign to raise awareness about a neurodegenerative disease called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig`s disease, which is characterised by muscle spasticity, weakness due to muscle atrophy, difficulty in speaking, swallowing and breathing.
In the Ice Bucket Challenge, the participants must dump a bucket of ice water over their heads, but if they can`t brave the chill, the alternative is to donate 100 dollars to the ALS Association.
World known personalities like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Cristiano Ronaldo and Oprah Winfrey have already taken up the challenge and now the Indian sports personalities are also finding themselves gripped by the Ice Bucket fever.
Reportedly, Indian Tennis player Rohan Bopanna was the one who started this challenge in India, when he was nominated by former tennis player Amrit Narsimhan.
Bopanna then nominated Bengaluru Football Club along with actor Rahul Bose after completing his challenge successfully.
Later, Bengaluru FC completed their challenge in a group form, and nominated star shuttler Ashwini Ponappa, Tennis ace Sania Mirza and dashing cricketer Yuvraj Singh.
Interestingly, Mirza had to take the challenge twice as her bucket did not have enough water. Then she challenged other sportspersons like Cara Black, Mahesh Bhupathi, Yuvraj Singh and few others.
Ponappa immediately challenged her doubles partner Jwala Gutta after completing the task.
Tennis player Bhupathi too nominated his coach Scott Davidoff, shooter Abhinav Bindra, along with Abhishek Bachchan and all the members of the Kabaddi team Jaipur Pink Panthers.
The bucket challenge has gone viral and it`s almost impossible for anyone to miss it on social media - be it videos or photos. We hope with every passing day more sportspersons will try to join this cause to make it a big hit in India.
With Agency inputs
First Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2014, 13:12
