Former marine commando, Praveen Teotia, who fought against terrorists during 2008 Mumbai attack and later turned to be a Marathon runner, auctioned his medals to raise funds for Coronavirus Relief Fund.
“If you can’t be a candle, just be a mirror which can reflect the light. I auctioned my hard-earned Marathon medals for the country”.
Praveen Teotia took multiple bullets while on duty to resist the insurgents of Taj Hotel in Mumbai during 26/11 terrorist attack. For almost 6 months he was in hospital, fighting against his death. He returned home but not before several surgeries for his ruptured lungs and deformed face.
Praveen never lost hope to survive; so he rejoined his office in Vishakhapatnam to continue his service in Navy but was assigned administrative desk job. It is during this time, Teotia motivated himself to get back his physical fitness and thus started running and jogging.
Presently, Praveen Teotia is a Marathon runner who has participated in various long-distance runs both at national and international level. With the much-needed endurance level, he has achieved the title of Ironman, not once but thrice.
While the country is fighting against Coronavirus pandemic, Praveen Teotia decided to play his part to contribute towards this fight. He auctioned 40 of his medals on online platforms and managed to sell two medals won at Mumbai Marathon. A sum of rupees two lakhs has been donated to the PM-Cares Relief Fund.
“Jindagi ko kuch iss tarha se jiya hai, ki har saans mein mere bharat basa hai.” [Let’s live in such a way, that every breathe counts India.”]