Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has lauded the Indian men's football team and former players for their helping hand towards the fight against COVID-19, saying young athletes have shown the way. "I congratulate the Men's National Football Team, @chetrisunil11 and his boys & some ex-footballers for coming forward to contribute R50 lakhs to #PMCaresFund. Our young football players have shown that young India is ready to do it's bit as #IndiaFightsCorona," Rijiju said in a tweet.

Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri said in a tweet on Tuesday that the members of the team have come together and "put on table a sum that has been sent to the PM-Cares Fund" to help in the fight against Coronavirus. Chhetri added that the reason why he is mentioning this on Twitter is so others who have the capacity to make donations are inspired to do so. "We've always received more than we can give. Which is why in this time of need, all of us national team players have come together and put on the table a sum that has been sent to the PM-Cares Fund to help India's fight with the pandemic," said Chhetri in a series of tweets.