New Delhi: On Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the Indian Olympic team Achievers that returned from the Paris Games with six medals at his residence, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. He gave them a motivational speech, telling them that sports is the one area where nobody ever loses, and everyone can learn and succeed.
“First of all, remove the thought from your mind that you have returned to India after losing the Olympics. You have returned with the country’s flag held high. You have also gained some valuable experience, and sports is the one field, my friends, where no one ever truly loses; everyone learns,” PM Modi said during a conversation with the sportspersons at his residence on Thursday.
“The world has seen what you did on the field. Now, tell me what you did off the field. You must have made friends with athletes from around the world and learned a lot,” the PM told them.
“Maybe you thought, it would be great if we also had something like this in our country as well…,” the PM said.
PM Modi shook hands with players and praised India’s youngest Olympic medallist, Aman Sehrawat, shooters Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh and Swapnil Kusale and members of the Indian men’s hockey team, among others.
The Prime Minister also clicked pictures with the athletes during the event.
During their meeting, hockey veteran P.R. Sreejesh, captain Harmanpreet Singh, and Aman gifted PM Modi with India jerseys and hockey equipment.
PM Modi praised Vinesh Phogat for a scintillating show in Paris
Hailing Vinesh Phogat’s historic feat in the Paris Olympics, the prime minister said, “became the first Indian (woman) to reach the finals in wrestling, which is a matter of great pride for all of us.”
After being ruled to be “a few grams over” in the women’s 50 kg gold medal match at the Olympics in Paris, Vinesh’s historic achievement took a severe hit. Later, Vinesh took to social media to announce her retirement from wrestling. She also appealed in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) and demanded a joint silver medal in the 50kg weight category. Her appeal was rejected, and ironically (as per the rules), Vinesh was placed last in the 50-kg category of the wrestling event.
117 Indian athletes competed in the Paris Games in 16 different sports, including archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, wrestling, table tennis, and tennis.
At the Olympics in Paris, India won six medals—one silver and five bronze. While expectations were high for a historic performance, the nation just missed out on breaking its own record at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where they finished 48th with seven medals (1 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze).
Manu became the first female Indian athlete to win an Olympic shooting medal. She also made history by being the first post-independence Indian athlete to win several medals in a single Games edition.
Manu later became the first Indian shooting pair to win an Olympic medal, teaming up with Sarabjot Singh. Overall, it was India’s sixth shooting Olympic medal.
On August 1, Swapnil Kusale achieved a historic first by winning the bronze in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions, which secured India’s third shooting medal at the Olympics in Paris. In the 50m rifle three positions event, this not only created a new record for India’s greatest medal total in a single sport at the Olympics, but it also brought home the country’s first-ever Olympic shooting medal.
At Paris 2024, superstar javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra threw the second-best javelin of his career with a throw of 89.45 meters, but Arshad Nadeem beat him for the gold with a new Olympic record of 92.97 meters. Even if it wasn’t gold, the 26-year-old’s Olympic silver medal was still a noteworthy accomplishment because it was only India’s second medal in the Summer Games’ athletics competition, with Neeraj collecting both of those medals.
In the process, Neeraj added a silver medal to his gold medal from Tokyo 2020, making him the third Indian athlete to medal twice in the Olympics. P.V. Sindhu and Sushil Kumar are the other two-time Olympians who have won two gold medals in different Olympics.
India, the bronze medalists in hockey at Tokyo, achieved back-to-back Olympic podium finishes for the first time in 52 years since the Munich 1972 Games by rallying from a goal down to defeat Spain 2-1 in the men’s hockey bronze medal playoff.
This triumph at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium also marked India’s Olympic hockey record-tying thirteenth medal.
PM Modi tells hockey player Sreejesh that he will be missed
PM Modi praised the wall of Indian hockey PR Sreejesh and stated, “The team will miss him,” as the veteran goalkeeper drew curtains on his outstanding career following the bronze medal-winning campaign at the Paris Olympics.
During the interaction with players, the Prime Minister asked about Sreejesh’s retirement decision, “Sreejesh, have you already decided to retire?
Sreejesh replied, “I have been contemplating retirement for the past few years. My teammates would often ask in a fun way, ‘When are you leaving?’ I attended the national camp in 2002 and played my first international match at the junior level in 2004. Since then, I’ve been representing my country for 20 years.”
“I felt that retiring on a grand stage like the Olympics, where the whole world comes together, would be the perfect way to conclude my career,” he added.
The Prime Minister responded, “The team will miss you, and they have given you a wonderful farewell.”
“Sreejesh further said, “After we lost the semifinal, the team was a little demotivated. But when we headed on to the pitch for the last match, my teammates kept encouraging each other, saying, ‘We have to win this for Sreejesh Bhai.’ I thanked them from that Olympic podium and announced my retirement after our victory.”
The Indian hockey team, which has been participating in the Olympics for 52 years, played fantastic hockey at the Paris Games, defeating Australia 3-2.
In the quarterfinals, the Indian hockey team faced Great Britain and pulled another rabbit out of the hat with an incredible performance from every team member. Thanks to Sreejesh’s heroics, they forced penalty shootouts and won 4-2 despite having a man down for more than 40 minutes during their defence.
The Indian men’s hockey team won a bronze medal in Paris, making history by winning back-to-back hockey medals for the first time since the Munich Olympics 1972. This was their 13th Olympic medal overall.
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–IANS
