The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind on Friday gifted a racing bicycle to a school boy from Delhi, who dreams of becoming a world-class cyclist. The bicycle was gifted to Riyaz as a Eidi by the President, a day before Eid-ul-Adha.

Riyaz is a class 9 student at Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya at Anand Vihar in Delhi and hails from Madhubani, Bihar. Riyaz works as a dishwasher in an eatery in Ghaziabad in his free time to support his father’s paltry income as a cook.

His family members – his parents, two sisters and one brother – live in Madhubani, while Riyaz stays in a rented accommodation in Maharajpur, Ghaziabad.

The class 9 student had won a bronze medal in 2017 in the Delhi State Cycling Championship. He has participated in a school games event in Guwahati, and has achieved fourth rank at the national level, according to the District Magistrate, Ghaziabad. Riyaz trains at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi.

Gifting the bicycle to Riyaz, President Kovind said ‘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.’