Blake, who is one of the favourites to win gold in 100m and 200m events at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, will arrive in India during the first week of December to undertake various activities to create awareness towards road safety in the country where around 1,50,000 people are killed and more than 4,50,000 people are critically injured in road accidents every year.
Blake was shocked when he heard that one person dies every four minutes in India and out of every hundred people dying in the world, 30 are Ind. Talking about his visit to India and the initiative to create awareness towards road safety through sports, an excited Blake said, "I have heard a lot about India and I always wanted to visit this wonderful country. I should thank the Road Safety World Series team for making this happen. I am aware about the number of deaths due to road accidents in India, I am also aware of cricket's popularity in the country and how the fans idolise cricketers here.
"The Road Safety World Series is such a wonderful initiative integrating sports with a noble cause to save human lives. I was blown away the moment I heard about it! Hats off to the organizers for coming up with such a concept. I am happy to be associated with this cause, because, it also gives me an opportunity to give something back to the society. Not many might know, but I also like cricket and I am a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar. I will make sure that I get to meet him and take his autograph during my stay," said Blake who is also the Road Safety Champion for the West Indies Legends team.
Every nation featuring in the Road Safety World Series will have a Road Safety Champion who will work relentlessly to promote the cause of road safety in and around the world. The Road Safety World Series is not just a sporting event but a movement to save human lives by creating awareness and changing people's outlook towards road safety. The series will feature Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies legend Brian Lara among a host of other legendary cricketers like Brett Lee, Virender Sehwag, Muthiah Muralitharan etc. Sachin Tendulkar is also the Brand Ambassador of the series whereas Sunil Gavaskar is the Commissioner of the series. In the first edition, the series will be played in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune.
Road Safety World Series is supported by Viacom 18 with Colours Cineplex being the broadcast partner, and VOOT and Jio as digital partner.
( With inputs from IANS )