Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday felicitated the nation’s lately returned Paralympic medalists, together with javelin throwers Sumit Antil and Devendra Jhajaria, hoping that the game would grow to be as common as cricket within the years to return.
After Neeraj Kumar’s historic javelin gold medal in Tokyo Olympics, Antil, Jhajharia and Sunder Singh Gurjar introduced extra glory to the nation with their medals in javelin on the ongoing Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Debutant Antille broke his personal world file for gold medals within the F64 class a number of instances final Monday, whereas veteran Jhajharia and Gurjar gained silver and bronze within the F46 class respectively.
“I am hopeful that the javelin will now become as famous as a cricket bat in India,” Thakur, former BCCI president, mentioned throughout the felicitation ceremony.
Other para athletes current on the event had been Yogesh Kathunia (Disc Throw F56 Silver Medal) and Sharad Kumar (High Jump T63 Bronze Medal).
Thakur promised the Narendra Modi-led central authorities all attainable help to the nation’s athletes.
“On National Sports Day, India won four medals and there cannot be a better tribute to Major Dhyan Chand ji. A lot of hard work is put in by the athletes along with the support given by the government to the national sports federations and athletes. The encouragement of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has been a driving force,” the minister mentioned.
Thakur mentioned, “The government will improve the sports environment in the country and will continue to support athletes (both core and development) in an unprecedented manner through schemes like TOPS.”
Jhajharia and Kumar thanked the federal government for the help they obtained of their Paralympic Games marketing campaign.
“In the last four years, the government has supported us in a wonderful way. PM Modi ji’s interaction with us also boosted our morale and we felt inspired this time,” Jhajharia mentioned.
Kumar mentioned: “It was a really tough Paralympics as a result of we did not know if the Games would happen or not. We are very completely happy that the federal government has adopted us and given us nice help by the Lakshya Olympic Podium Scheme.
“The government is working tirelessly to support us and all of our sport-focused and pertinent requests are being approved expeditiously.”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
