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Athletes at Paralympics need to be encouraged: Rajnath Singh at ASI Pune
Singh was present for the naming of the ASI athletics’ stadium as the ‘Neeraj Chopra Army Sports Stadium Pune Cantt’, in honour of Neeraj Chopra who won the gold medal for the javelin throw at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics
Along with the athletes who represented India at the Olympics, athletes at the on-going Paralympics need to be encouraged,” said defence minister Rajnath Singh at the Army Sports Institute here on Friday.
The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics Games started on August 24 and will continue till September 5.
An Indian contingent of 54 athletes are participating in various events.
In 2016, India had won four medals, including two golds at the Paralympics.
“All the athletes who represent the nation are leaders and their work is to show the way to others so we can get more medals. We should not be satisfied with only one medal, but work to make India super-powerful in sports,” said Singh.
Singh was present for the naming of the ASI athletics’ stadium as the ‘Neeraj Chopra Army Sports Stadium Pune Cantt’, in honour of Neeraj Chopra who won the gold medal for the javelin throw at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics.
Singh also felicitated all Armed Forces personnel who represented India at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Along with the athletes we should also congratulate coaches, trainer and physios, as they have also played big role in the success of athletes,” added Singh.
“Defence and sports - both walk hand in hand. One can learn many techniques of defence while practicing sports,” added Singh, who was extremely happy with the performance of athletes who returned from Tokyo India’s highest medal tally so far.
“Due to Covid-19 the circumstances in Tokyo were hard still our athletes came up with very good performance. Not only medal winners but all those who participated in the Olympics are winners” added Singh.
Before the Olympics a preparatory camp for Boxing, Archery and the Javelin throw where organised at the ASI campus.
“Army Sports Institute has world class facilities and I want to applaud their efforts. I also appreciate their efforts of making arrangements of providing equipment for athletes who were at their native places during the lockdown,” added Singh.
