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Lauding the struggle and sustained efforts of UP’s Priyanka Goswami and Shivpal Singh who recently qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the country to bolster their enthusiasm. He also termed their spirit an inspiration for all during his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme which was aired on Sunday.
Talking about the athletes going for the Tokyo Olympics from July 23 to August 8, the prime minister picked the life stories of race walker Priyanka Goswami and javelin thrower Shivpal Singh and gave a special mention to them by lauding their determination and perseverance.
Goswami (Muzaffarnagar), who will be competing in the 20km race walking event, hails from a humble background and her father is a bus conductor. “As a child, Priyanka adored the bag in which the medal winners were presented. It was this fascination that made her participate in the race walking competition for the first time. Now, she is a big champion,” Modi said.
Highlighting the consistent efforts of Shivpal Singh, who hails from Varanasi, the prime minister said that Shivpal’s entire family has been associated with this game. His father, uncle and brother are all proficient in javelin throw.
“His commitment and an emotional attachment for the sport as it is a part of his family tradition made him qualify for the mega event,” the PM said.
Urging people to encourage the athletes, the PM also said that all the athletes have endured years of toil and the country should back them without putting them under pressure during the Tokyo Games next month.
Extending gratitude to the prime minister, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state drew inspiration from the PM’s encouragement and support to the sports fraternity and adopted a similar approach to promote and foster the sports culture by supporting the talented sportspersons.
“The talented sportspersons of our state were deprived of adequate resources for a long time, however, our government is leaving no stone unturned to provide all necessary assets to them in order to promote sports activities to help them shine nationally and internationally,” Yogi said.