Tennis: Li Na helps China recover from Earthquake, donates $57,500
Tennis players are some of the highest paid athletes in the world today. Their prize money goes up to millions of dollars and they do not shy away from spending their vast amount of riches. Many professional tennis players are well-known for their philanthropic activities and their charity work. All the famous names in the world of tennis have done extremely generous deeds for mankind. Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and many more have donated millions out of their earnings in order to help those in need.
Recently, the number one female tennis player of China, in fact the number one in all of Asia, Li Na, has been reported to have been involved in a very noble cause. She has donated all of her prize money from the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, where she reached the quarterfinals, to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation which helps with earthquake relief efforts in Yushu County in northwest China. Her donation was a grand total of $57,500.
Li Na has made a name for China in the international tennis community. She was the first Chinese tennis player to reach the top 30 players in the world in June 2006. In August 2006, she made it to the top 20 players. She is currently ranked number 10 in the world which is the highest ranking any Chinese tennis player has achieved. Li was also the first Chinese player to make her way into a Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon 2006. She reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open this year which has brought her into the top ten tennis players in the world. Being one of the most successful tennis players her country has ever produced, Li has indeed made China proud.
Not only is this amazing athlete making a breakthrough for China in the world of tennis but is also set out to give most of her earnings to help the victims of the earthquake that hit China in April this year. The Earthquake hit China’s Sichuan province and left more than 71,000 people dead, missing or buried alive under the rubble. Most of the cities were completely destroyed in this massive disaster and it left China in extreme peril. Thousands of people needed to be relocated and refugees are still being catered to in different parts of China.
In this period of grief for the country, it is patriotic people like Li Na, who come to help in the form of a blessing from God. Li Na is still helping those in need. She does not only give charity but she visits the relief centres personally and interacts with those who were hit by the disaster. She visited Xining, the capital of the Qinghai province which had also been affected by the April earthquake. There she went to the Huang Nan Zhou Orphanage, which is currently the home to those orphans who were displaced from the Yushu area because their previous orphanage had been destroyed by the earthquake.
The money she has provided to the orphanage is being used to pay for the living expenses of these children for a period of three years. It is also meant to be used to buy sports equipment for the children residing there, and pays for the training of teachers to use this equipment and help teach others how to use it also. Along with all this, the money is also being granted to ten schools in the Yushu area.
In addition to the amount of money she has already given to help the victims of the earthquake, she has further donated $59,000 for this righteous cause. Furthermore, she has her mind set to donate whatever she wins at this year’s China Open to the relief funds. Li has said that she will fight her way to get as far as she can in this tournament so that she can acquire a sufficient amount of prize money to give away for the benefit of her nation.
Li Na is one selfless Chinese woman who has benefitted her country tremendously and is not going to stop any time soon.
Tags: