New Delhi: Hailing the achievements of Indian sportspersons, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said India often found no mention in international events earlier, but things have changed now and even a few weeks’ success list is quite long.
In his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio broadcast, Modi said this month, there have been several great news for India from the sports world.
The Indian team raised the glory of the Tricolour by winning the Hockey Women’s Junior Asia Cup for the first time, he said.
“This month itself, our men’s hockey team also won the Junior Asia Cup,” Modi pointed out.
“With that, we have also become the team with the most wins in the history of this tournament,” he added.
The Indian junior team also did wonders at the Junior Shooting World Cup, Modi said, adding that it has secured the first position in this tournament.
“Of the total gold medals in this tournament, 20 percent have come in India’s account alone,” he said.
The Asian U20 Athletics Championship was also held this June and in this, India remained in the top three in medal tally among 45 participating countries, the prime minister said.
“Earlier, there used to be a time when we used to come to know about international events but often there was no mention of India in them. But today, I am just mentioning the successes of the past few weeks, even then the list has become so long. This is the real strength of our youth,” he said.
There are many such sports and competitions where India is making her presence felt for the first time, Modi stressed.
“For example, in the long jump, Shrishankar Murali has won a bronze for the country in a prestigious event like the Paris Diamond League. This is India’s first medal in this competition. One such similar success has been registered by our Under Seventeen Women Wrestling Team in Kyrgyzstan. I congratulate all these athletes of the country, their parents and coaches for their efforts,” he said.
The prime minister said the hard work put in by the country’s sportspersons at the national level is behind this success in international events.
“Today, sports are organised with a new enthusiasm in various states of the country. These give players a chance to play, win and learn from defeat,” he said, citing the example of the Khelo India University Games organised in Uttar Pradesh recently.
“A lot of enthusiasm was observed in the youth. Our youth have broken 11 records in these games… Punjab University, Amritsar’s Guru Nanak Dev University and Karnataka’s Jain University have occupied the first three places in the medal tally,” Modi noted.
“A major aspect of such tournaments is that many inspiring stories of young players come to the fore,” he said.
“In the rowing event at the Khelo India University Games, Assam’s Cotton University’s Anyatam Rajkumar became the first Divyang athlete to participate. Nidhi Pawaiya of Barkatullah University managed to win a gold medal in shot-put despite a serious knee injury,” Modi added.
“Shubham Bhandare of Savitribai Phule Pune University who had suffered a disappointment in Bengaluru last year due to an ankle injury has become a gold medallist in the steeplechase this time,” he further said.
Similarly, Saraswati Kundu of Burdwan University is the captain of her kabaddi team who crossed many difficulties to reach there, Modi said.
The prime minister said many of the best-performing athletes are also getting a lot of help from the TOPS Scheme. “The more our sportspersons play, the more they’ll bloom,” he added.
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