Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met the members of the T20 World Cup winning blind cricket team and congratulated them for their success where he addressed Jafar Iqbal, one of the team members from Odisha, as his “friend”.
“My friend Jafar Iqbal is from Odisha. He has been playing since his school days. He made his international debut in 2011,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during the meeting.
Besides, it was also a memorable moment for another Odia blind cricketer Sukhram Majhi, member of the squad.
“Sukhram Majhi has been playing international cricket since 2005. He is also a talented athlete who has won medals in running & high jump,” Modi said. The members met PM at the PMO on Tuesday morning. A cheque of Rs 2 lakh each to the 17 cricketers, coach and assistant coach were handed over. Cricket Association for Visually Impaired (CAVI) general secretary Sanyas Kumar Behera also congratulated the team members.