Bhopal: Tokyo Olympic hero and member of bronze medal winning Indian men hockey team Vivek Sagar returned to his Chandoun village near Itarsi on Saturday to a rousing welcome. “Vivek has made the entire nation proud. He deserves all the welcome he is getting in his hometown. He will inspire youths to come forward and make their dreams true, while serving the nation,” said local MLA Sitasharan Sharma during Vivek’s felicitation ceremony at Narmada College in Hoshangabad. Before the ceremony, Vivek taken around the city in an open car and was greeted by a cheering crowd that had gathered on roadsides to catch a glimpse of the Olympic hero.Residents and villagers danced on drumbeats showered flower petals on him. Sohagpur MLA Vijay Pal Singh, former MLA Girija Shankar Sharma, former Janapad head Bhawani Shankar Sharma, Hockey association patron Rohit Faujdar, collector Dhananjay Singh Bhadouria and SP Santosh Singh Gaur also attended the ceremony.
He was also honoured at SPM Ground by security force unit of Central Industrial Association in Hoshangabad. The unit in charge commandant Vaibhav Kumar Dubey said, “Vivek has highlighted Hoshangabad on the national map by his game at the Olympics. He was felicitated by representatives from the industrial security forces across India.”
“Not only my mother, but all mothers in our village blessed Vivek and performed aarti for his accomplishment. The entire day was surreal as people were happy and jubilant with him coming back home, days after his Olympic win,” said Vivek’s elder brother, Vidhya Sagar.
“He was excited and thankful to the government to see that the muddy road he had left behind had now become concrete,” he added. The Lions Club Hoshangabad and Ayush organisation also organised an event at Swayamvar Garden for Vivek. The district additional cabinet secretary of Lions , DS Dangi, said, “When we helped Vivek with money back in 2016-17, we did not know he would bring home an Olympic medal. Though, we always knew he was going to achieve heights.”
