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Fit India campaign: Cycling with Sunday squad at India Gate
Sunday morning at Delhi's India Gate saw Indian Army personnel and wrestler-MMA champ Sangram Singh cycle for an event organised as part of Fit India campaign.
It would be hard to believe that Delhi was under an intense cold spell, if one were to see more than 300 cycling enthusiasts gathered at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Sunday morning. The reason that they assembled was to be part of the nationwide campaign, Fit India Sundays on Cycle.
The enthusiastic bicyclists pedalled off from the stadium at 8am, and rode towards Vijay Chowk via Kartavya Path. In between, they even paused to click some photos at the India Gate and cheer each other while raising slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai!
The campaign that had launched in December 2024 had this week's event in Delhi led by wrestler and MMA champion Sangram Singh. Joined by Singh were Indian Army personnel, who promoted awareness around the need to stay fit by taking up cycling, which also acts as one among the many solutions to reduce Delhi’s pollution. But this isn't all for the event also said emphasised the need to say ‘No to Drugs’.
Singh, who is a Fit India Icon, said, “I have always believed that health is the only wealth and we must all spend least half an hour everyday in fitness activities. Dilli mein thand waise hi bahut hoti hai, aur health banane ke liye thand best weather hai! You can workout indoor as well as outdoor, and eat anything since thand mein digestion bahut fast hota hai… I've been associated with the Fit India movement from 2021, and since I was in Delhi this weekend and heard that jawans of the Indian Army will be cycling, I wanted to join in too! It was a great honour for me to ride along with them. This is a great initiative by the government to imbibe a culture of fitness in the country because only fit citizens can build a strong country.”
Amid the selfies and fun interactions, a push-up challenge was also organised and pepped up everyone present. Speaking about the whole initiative, Mayank Shrivastav, deputy director general, Sports Authority of India (SAI), said, “It’s the vision of the honourable PM (Narendra Modi) to make India a fit nation. Three weeks back, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the Sundays on Cycle initiative because cycling is a easy and inexpensive way to remain for while also acting as a mode of transport for short distances thereby curbing the growing pollution. In the last three weeks, more than 2,400 such events have been organised across the country in which Olympians, Paralympians, athletes, and members of cycling clubs have joined, and the enthusiasm with which people of different walks of life and age group are participating goes to show that this has caught the imagination of the country.”
