Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hosted the National Sports awardees, including Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu and bronze winner Sakshi Malik, at his 7 Race Course Road residence here.
The PM greeted the athletes on the eve of the National Sports Day. Besides shuttler Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi, ace shooter Jitu Rai and trailblazing gymnast Dipa Karmakar were also in attendance.
Sindhu scripted history by winning the silver in women's singles badminton while Sakshi took the bronze in women's 58kg freestyle category at the Rio Games.
In a first in Indian sports, Dipa finished fourth in artistic gymnastics at Rio. While Jitu has won over half a dozen medals in the past two years.
When asked what did the Prime Minister tell her, Sakshi, who burst into the limelight with her bronze medal in Rio, 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."
Sports Minister Vijay Goel, who was also present on the occasion, said, "All the Khel Ratna awardees, Arjuna awardees, Dhayanchand awardees, Dronacharya awardees, Tenzing Norgay awardees met the Prime Minister today and it also included the two medallists from the Rio Olympics — PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik."
PM asks states to form committees for next ol
After deciding to form a Task Force to prepare for the next three Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked states to set up similar panels as "lot more" needs to be done to improve India's performance in sports.
During his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat', he hailed the girl power as he referred to Rio medal winners — shuttler PV Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi. He also hailed gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who missed a medal by a narrow margin in the Olympics.
He lauded P Gopichand, ace badminton player and Sindhu's coach, describing him as an example of a fine teacher. "It cannot be denied that our performance (in Rio) was not up to the expectation," Modi said while mentioning about thousands of messages to him from people who wanted him to speak on the subject of sports in view of poor performance in Rio Olympics as they were badly disappointed. "In some cases, Indian players could not even perform to the level they do in games at home and in the medals tally, we had only two," he added.
Manoj appeals for PM's intervention in mess
Bitter about the administrative mess which he feels cost him a medal at the Rio Olympics, pugilist Manoj Kumar says Indian boxing is on death bed right now and desperately needs intervention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"I am sure that I would have won a medal if India was not suspended from the International Boxing Association (AIBA). Had the first round in that pre-quarterfinal bout gone in my favour, the result would have been different," Manoj said.
The light welterweight boxer lost to eventual gold-medallist Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan. Manoj said the four-year-old logjam in administration destroyed India's chances in Rio. The country's boxers could not fetch a single medal for the first time in eight years at the Games.
"I think I should have got that first round against Gaibnazarov, that would have changed the complexion of the overall result," he said.