Wheelchair-bound archer Rutvi Lolge has hit bullseye! Having cleared her physical assessments by the highly credible Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), a not-for-profit company, founded by India legends Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone, for the promotion of sports and athletes, she has bagged a long-term sponsorship deal with them.
Less than a month ago, mid-day had highlighted how Rutvi, a Class X student of St Anne’s HS (Malad) has battled Spina Bifida, a congenital condition of the spinal cord that causes paralysis of the lower limbs, to win medals at inter-school, district, and state-level competitions alongside able-bodied athletes. Her mother, Suvarna, a single parent, who works as a freelance nurse, had told mid-day that she has to change her daughter’s urine bag every three hours and that their modest financial condition is making it difficult for Rutvi to progress in the sport as the professional equipment costs almost R5 lakh. Besides, she will also need a new wheelchair for the sport.
Viren Rasquinha
After reading this story, OGQ sent across their team of officials to evaluate Rutvi’s condition and based on that feedback, OGQ’s CEO Viren Rasquinha has confirmed to mid-day that the organisation has decided to take Rutvi under their wings and sponsor her ultimate dream of winning an Olympic (Paralympic)
medal for the country.
OGQ’s visit and verification
“After reading the mid-day story on Nov 20, OGQ’s para team, comprising Anukool Bharadwaj, head of para program and Chief Strategy Officer, Pushkar Ganoo, senior physiotherapist, and Siddhant Shipurkar, senior strength and conditioning coach, visited Rutvi at her school training base. We looked at her scores in district level tournaments, did our sports science assessments, spoke to the coaches and Rutvi’s mother. And after three weeks of research on performance benchmarking, sports science assessments and coaching set up, we are very happy to share that OGQ will be supporting Rutvi in para archery from January 1, 2026 under our Para Junior Program,” Rasquinha, a former India hockey captain, told mid-day on Thursday.
Rasquinha particularly insisted that OGQ’s actions are purely on merit and not on sympathy. “Besides helping Rutvi financially and in aspects like professional equipment, wheelchair, and nutrition, we will also help get her paralympic classification. Rutvi deserves all of this purely on her merit. Our team has seen potential in her and we believe that with a long-term plan she win a medal for India at the Paralympic Games,” added Rasquinha, specifying that Rutvi will currently get a four-month deal (Jan to April 2026) after which it will be an annual contract.
The benefits however, come with a crucial rider, which is absolutely understandable. “Rutvi needs to understand that this [winning a medal for India] is a long term process. When we [OGQ] picked [badminton stars] Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu, they were just 10 and 13 years old respectively, while [shooter] Manu Bhaker was just 15. So, Rutvi has to start working hard from now on and her sole focus should be on that medal for India,” concluded Rasquinha.
Rutvi’s mother Suvarna broke down while speaking to mid-day. “I have a few people to thank. Firstly, Ronnie D’Souza [Malad-based restaurateur who owns UK United Sports]. He saw Rutvi in school and put us in touch with the St Anne’s Batch of 1985 and MCA’s Apex Council member Bhushan Patil, who helped us financially; St Anne’s principal Sister Leo Vinnarasi, and sports coordinator Ram Ahiwale for helping in Rutvi’s academics. And last, but by no means least,
mid-day and its readers, who made generous donations. God bless you all for helping my little angel,” said Suvarna.
Rutvi overwhelmed
Rutvi is overwhelmed. “This is a dream come true moment for me and my mother. I love archery and promise to put in all the hard work to make my country proud,” she said.
