The Prime Minister urged the athletes to do their best for the country and not feel the pressure in their quest for a medal.
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As Indian athletes gear up for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with those bound for Tokyo on Tuesday. The Prime Minister urged the athletes to do their best for the country and not feel the pressure in their quest for a medal. Modi spoke with a number of athletes, the likes of which include Sania Mirza, Dutee Chand, Deepika Kumari, Praveen Jadhav, and many others. The PM congratulated Deepika on her exceptional journey to being the top-ranked archer in the world. He first spoke to both archers, Deepika and Jadhav, and told them to not feel the pressure of expectations at home, and just play their natural game.
“You’re world number 1 now. Your journey is very special,” Modi said to Deepika. The archer responded by saying that she was focussing on her practice and the way she will play at The Games. “My journey has been good from the beginning, I started with bamboo bow and then moved to modern bow gradually,” Kumari said. “There are expectations, but one expects the most from oneself. So, I am focusing on my practice and the way in which I will perform,” she added.
The Prime Minister was not the only high-ranking government official present at the interaction. Union sports and youth affairs minister Anurag Thakur, minister of state Nisith Pramanik and law minister Kiren Rijiju were also present during the talks.
Ace sprinter Dutee Chand, during her conversation with the Prime Minister, said that she was raring to have a go at making her country proud. Dutee also said that she wanted to prove to the world that Indian women are not less or weaker than anyone and that the country will progress only when its women prosper.
“I have three sisters and one brother and people used to tell my mother why she was giving birth to so many girls. We had little food to eat and my father’s income was also very low. I was thinking if I play well I can get a good job in the government sector,” Dutee told the Prime Minister.
“Now I have managed to get a good life for my family and I would like to thank you and everyone who has helped me to achieve that. There has always been controversy in my life. There have been a lot of challenges I had to overcome to get here,” she added.
The Tokyo Games will be the sprinter’s second appearance in the Olympics. She is only the third Indian woman to participate in the 100m event at the Olympics. “This will be my second Olympics. I just want to show that no woman is less or weak in India. Women will progress and will bring pride to the country, this is what I want to show and I want to win a medal for this country,” she added.
“In 100m our race finishes in 10-11 seconds and we have to work hard for many years for that. We have to be careful about a lot of things so as to ensure that we are not disqualified for any reasons. But like I have in my personal life, I try to be brave and face the challenges on the track,” she added.
“You have made a number of records for this country. The country hopes that you will find a place on the Olympic podium. Let go of all your worries and participate, the whole of India is with you,” the Prime Minister responded.
The other athletes the Prime Minister interacted with include the likes of Neeraj Chopra, Ashish Kumar, Sania Mirza, Mary Kom, PV Sindhu, Elavenil Valarivan, Saurabh Chaudhary, Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra, Vinesh Phogat, Sajan Prakash, and Manpreet Singh.
“These wishes of 135 crore Indians are the blessings of the country for all of you before entering the field of sports,” the Prime Minister concluded.
