Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the National Sports awardees, including Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu and bronze winner Sakshi Malik, and wonder girl Dipa Karmakar at his 7 Race Course Road residence on Sunday.
The PM hosted the National sports awardees on the eve of National Sports day. Beside Sindhu and Malik, ace shooter Jitu Rai and was also present at his residence. All the four athletes will be conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award by President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday.
On one side where P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik were the only ones to bring back medal in Women’s Badminton Singles and Women’s 58kg freestyle respectively in Rio Olympics, on the other side Dipa Karmakar even after finishing fourth in the Women’s Vault won millions of heart across the nation. Shooter Jitu Rai has also been impressive at the international level for past 2 years and won a lot of medals through out.
After meeting the PM on Monday, P.V. Sindhu said, “I showed him my medal and he was very happy. He congratulated me and said you did really well and made the country proud. That really made my day. It was a pleasure talking to him and I felt very happy.”
Sindhu, about her Olympic victory, further added, “It is great feeling to have won an Olympic medal. It was my dream and it has come true. I am very happy. I am thankful to everybody, Gopi sir, my parents. I am really thankful to the Government as they have been very supportive and also to the sponsors.”
On asking Sakshi Malik about her encounter with the PM, she said, “Prime Minister said to me ‘maarna mat mujhe’ (I hope you won’t hit me) and I told him that we wrestlers are very aggressive on the mat but off it, we are very soft-hearted.” Later asked her about her victory, she added, “I couldn’t believe it when I was in Rio. But now it has started to sink in. I am getting a lot of love and everyone has made me feel very special.”
Dipa’s coach Bisheshwar Nandi has been selected for the Dronacharya award along with Team India skipper Virat Kohli’s coach Raj Kumar Sharma, athletics coach Nagapuri Ramesh, boxing coach Sagar Mal Dhayal, Pradeep Kumar (Swimming, lifetime) and Mahabir Singh (wrestling, lifetime).
The Ministry also selected 15 athletes for this year’s Arjuna Award. The notable names in the list are boxer Shiva Thapa, long distance runner Lalita Babar, cricketer Ajinkya Rahane, hockey players VR Raghunath and Rani Rampal among others.
The Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Satti Geetha (athletics), Sylvanus Dung Dung (hockey) and Rajendra Pralhad Shelke (rowing).
PM also got clicked with the four Olympians and wrote on his twitter handle about his feeling on meeting the the four of them.
For Sindhu, he wrote, “Delighted to meet you @Pvsindhu1. Every Indian is so proud of what you accomplished,”
For Malik, he wrote, “You are an inspiration for so many people @SakshiMalik. Keep making us proud with your achievements.”
For Dipa, Modi’s tweet was, “Congrats @DipaKarmakar. You have won the nation’s hearts.”
and For Jitu Rai, PM’s wishes included, “Meeting the skilled, talented & determined @JituRai was wonderful. Best wishes for his future endeavours.”
Narendra Modi had also announced the setting up of a task force which will help to plan for the “effective participation” of Indian sportspersons in the next three Olympics, to be held in 2020, 2024 and 2028 on last Friday, in his initiative to promote sports in the country.
The Pm recognised the work of all the coaches of the sportspersons, and for an appreciation for the same, tweeted, “A major role in the success of every athlete is the perseverance of their coaches…with Dronacharya Awards winners.”
The PM hosted the athletes with utter respect, and met and greeted everyone personally.