NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met the Indian athletes who will represent the country at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and wished them luck.
At the function held at the Manekshaw Centre, PM Modi interacted individually with the sportspersons, and wished them luck for the August 5-21 Games.
The dignitaries who attended the function were Sports Minister Jitendra Singh, Sports Secretary Rajiv Yadav, All India Council of Sports (AICS) Chairman Vijay Malhotra, Indian Olympic Association President N Ramachandran, Secretary General Rajeev Mehta, Hockey India President Narinder Batra, HI Secretary General Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmed among others.
Speaking on the sidelines of the function, Dr Jitendra Singh observed that this was the first time that Indian
contingent had crossed
three-digit figure of 100 and hoped that, for the first time, the India’s Olympics medal tally would also cross two-digit figure.
It was a great gesture on the part of Prime Minister, he said, to have spared his valuable time to cheer these youngsters.
India will be sending its biggest ever contingent to the Olympics this year with more than 100 athletes having already qualified in 13 sporting disciplines. The previous highest was 83 that the country sent in the 2012 Olympics in London. More athletes are likely to qualify in the coming days, and the Sports Ministry and the IOA are expecting more than 110 to represent the country in the Games. Notable athletes who met the Prime Minister today were shooters Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai, Gurpreet Singh, Manvjit Sandhu and Ayonika Paul, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, archers Atanu Das, L Bombayla Devi and Laxmi Rani Majhi, track and field athletes Inderjeet Singh, Sudha Singh, Lalita Babar, O P Jaisha, Kavita Raut, Kheta Ram, Nitendra Singh Rawat, Baljinder Singh, Chandan Singh and T Gopi, and table tennis players Mouma Das and Manika Batra. The Indian women’s hockey team along with chief coach Neil Hawgood and coach C R Kumar were also in attendance. National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand and boxing coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu were also part of the gathering.
During the send-off function the athletes were seen taking selfies with the PM and his autographs.
Several of the Rio-qualified athletes gave the function a miss as they are currently training abroad.(PTI)
PM Modi’s send-off gesture hailed
NEW DELHI: Athletes bound for Rio Olympics, including India’s opening ceremony flag-bearer Abhinav Bindra and wrestling ace Yogeshwar Dutt, hailed the send-off given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who interacted individually with each of them here today. At a function held at Manekshaw Centre, PM Modi wished luck to each of the sportspersons for the August 5-21 Games. Later, the PM took to Twitter also to extend his good wishes to the sportspersons. He also responded to the tweets posted by the Rio-bound sportspersons.
Bindra, India’s lone individual Olympic gold medallist, who will make his final appearance at Rio, said, “For the first time ever there is a send-off by @PMOIndia @narendramodi for the Olympic Team. What a great gesture.#respect.”
London Olympics bronze medallist grappler Yogeshwar also thanked the PM for his gesture.
“It was great gesture from our Honourable Prime Minister to wish athletes personally. Something like this has never happened. So, it’s a great encouragement for all of us.”
Thanking the PM for his support, young boxer Shiva Thapa wrote on his twitter handle, “Great to meet our Honourable PM Shri @narendramodi ji..Thank you for all your support.jai hind.”
Two-time World championship bronze medallist shuttler PV Sindhu called the meeting motivating.
“Meeting PM Modi was motivating and encouraging, hope to bring at least 2 to 3 medals, from the Rio Games,” she said.
Shooter Heena Sidhu tweeted a photograph along with the PM, with the caption reading: “Send off to #RioOlympics by the Prime Minister #NarendraModi. We all had a good time.”
“Glad 2 meet our energetic #PM @narendramodi Ji in a pgm. Ur words gv us energy 2 bring laurel 4 country in #Rio,” was the tweet posted by boxer Manoj Kumar with a photograph with the PM.