London, July 7: Indian youngster Pinki Sonkar, beneficiary of a life-changing cleft lip surgery, flipped the coin at the Wimbledon men’s singles final between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, here today.
Clad in a white T-shirt and trousers with a white necklace, Pinki entered the Centre Court confidently, waving towards crowd. She shook hands with the officials and the two finalists and also posed for photographs.
The 11-year-old Indian girl represented New York-based Smile Train, which helped her receive free cleft treatment in 2007.
Smile Train is world’s largest cleft lip and palate non-profit organisation, which was chosen as the charity partner to perform the flip of the coin at the men’s singles event.
Smile Train aims to provide free surgeries to people born with cleft lip and palate.
Pinky, whose life was captured in the Oscar winning documentary ‘Smile Pinki’, also travelled United States in her tour to share her story.
After watching the match, Pinki will have lunch in the Competitors’ Restaurant. During her stay in London, Pinki will partake in additional events in honour of the tournament, including meeting with many of Smile Train’s supporters.
Doctor Subodh Kumar Singh, who performed Pinki’s cleft surgery in 2007, is accompanying her on the tour. (PTI)
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