At the Army Sports Institute (ASI) on Friday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh honored members of the Defence Forces who competed in the Tokyo Olympics, including Olympic gold medalist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra.
ASI stadium after Chopra
Rajnath also renamed the ASI Stadium after Chopra, who won India’s first gold medal in athletics and became the country’s only second individual gold medalist after shooter Abhinav Bindra.
Chopra was also in attendance at the event. The Defence Minister was also gifted with a shawl autographed by the Olympians.
On the occasion, Army Chief General MM Naravane was also present.
Members who got facilitated
Tarundeep Rai (Archery), Pravin Jadhav (Archery), Amit (Boxing), Manish Kaushik (Boxing), Satish Kumar (Boxing), CA Kuttappa (Boxing coach), Chotelal Yadav (Boxing coach – Mary Kom’s coach), Deepak Punia (Wrestling), Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh (Rowing), Vishnu Saravanan (Sailing), and Chopra were among those who got facilitated.
Singh’s promises to promote sports
A javelin replica was gifted to Neeraj. Rajnath stated that his administration would do all possible to support sports.
“To promote sports, we will do whatever is needed and we are committed to that. And every player in the country knows about it. Our Prime Minister is encouraging all the games and the players, ” Rajnath told reporters.
“The government will give encouragement to every individual from the sports community, and the state governments are also making good contributions to facilitating players,” he added.
“I am waiting for that moment when India will get an opportunity to host the Olympic Games,” said Rajnath while addressing the gathering.
