President Kovind gives racing cycle to budding biker

New Delhi: President Ram NathKovind gifted a racing bicycle to a struggling school boy who dreams of excelling as a cyclist, RashtrapatiBhavan said in a release. The President wished Riyaz to become an international champion of cycling race and realise his dream through his hard work.

Riyaz, a student of Class 9 at SarvodayaBalVidyalaya at AnandVihar in Delhi, originally belongs to Madhubani district of Bihar, the release said.

His family members -- his parents, two sisters and one brother -- live in Madhubani, while Riyaz stays in a rented accommodation in Maharajpur, Ghaziabad, it said. To supplement his father's paltry income as a cook, the boy in his free time works in an eatery in Ghaziabad as a dishwasher.

Riyaz's passion is cycling, and he practises hard after studies and work.In 2017, he won the bronze medal in the Delhi State Cycling Championship, the release said. He went on to participate in a school games event in Guwahati, according to the district magistrate, Ghaziabad, and achieved the fourth rank at the national level.

Riyaz regularly trains at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi and had to depend on a borrowed sports cycle for his practice, the release said. The President came to know of Riyaz's story of struggle through reports in the media. Complimenting Riyaz for his achievements defying all odds, Kovind wished him best in the life and said that his story should serve as worthy of emulation for the country's youth who must come forward for nation-building by dint of their dedication, hard work, courage and honesty, it said.