PM Narendra Modi meets members of Indian Olympic contingent
Ā© Twitter - Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met the members of the Indian Olympic contingent for the Rio Olympics. The Prime Minister also interacted individually with the sportspersons and wished them luck for the event, which is scheduled to be held from August 5 to 21 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The function was held at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi and other dignitaries including Sports Minister Jitendra Singh, Sports Secretary Rajiv Yadav, All India Council of Sports (AICS) Chairman Vijay Malhotra, Indian Olympic Association President N Ramachandran, Secretary General Rajeev Mehta, Hockey India President Narinder Batra, HI Secretary General Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmed also attended the function, reported PTI.
Shooters Jitu Rai, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Heena Sidhu and shuttlers PV Sindhu, K Srikanth, boxer Shiva Thapa, and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt were among the prominent athletes that attended the function. National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, boxing coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu, and Indian womenās hockey team coach Neil Hawgood also attended the function.
Meeting PM Modi was motivating and encouraging, hope to bring at least 2 to 3 medals."
P V Sindhu
The Prime Minister interacted with the athletes individually and also wished them luck for the Olympics during the send-off function. Many athletes were forced to give the event a miss due to training schedules.
Also, read: Road to Rio: The great Indian dream
"Meeting PM Modi was motivating and encouraging, hope to bring at least 2 to 3 medals," said P V Sindhu, reported ANI.
It was great gesture of our Honourable Prime Minister @narendramodi to wish athletes personally for #Rio2016 šš®š³ pic.twitter.com/jY4aCxD8G9
ā Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) July 4, 2016
"For the 1st time PM is sending off a team, that itself is very motivating," said Anju Bobby George, reported ANI.Ā
Great to meet our Honourable PM Shri @narendramodi ji..Thank you for all your support.jai hindš®š³ pic.twitter.com/drBcib6cxG
ā Shiva Thapa (@shivathapa) July 4, 2016
India will be sending their biggest ever contingent to the Olympics this year. The number of athletes qualified for the Olympics currently stands at 103, and some more are expected to swell the ranks through qualifiers over the next fortnight. India's previous campaign to the London Olympics in 2012 had seen 83 athletes participating in the games.
Also,Ā read: Dutee Chand | The woman who stood the test of 'biological racism'
