Praising the struggle and sustained efforts of Priyanka Goswami and Shivpal Singh of Uttar Pradesh who recently qualified for Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the entire country to bolster their enthusiasm and hailed their spirit as an inspiration for all during his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme on Sunday.
While talking about the athletes going for Tokyo Games from July 23 to August 8 in the Japanese capital, the Prime Minister picked life stories of race walker Priyanka Goswami and javelin thrower Shivpal Singh and gave a special mention to them by lauding their determination and perseverance while addressing the nation.
Muzaffarnagar’s Goswami, who would be competing in the 20km race walk event, comes from a humble background. Her father works as a bus conductor.
"As a child, Priyanka adored the bag that the medal winners were presented with. It was this fascination that made her participate in the Race-Walking competition for the first time. Now, she is a big champion of that," Modi said.
Highlighting the consistent efforts of Javelin thrower Shivpal Singh who hails from Varanasi, the Prime Minister stated that Shivpal's entire family has been associated with this game. His father, uncle and brother are all proficient in javelin throw.
“His commitment and an emotional attachment for the sport as it is a part of his family tradition made him qualify for the mega-event,” the PM added.
Urging people to encourage the athletes, the Prime Minister also said that all the athletes have endured ‘years of toil’ and the country should back them without putting them under pressure during the Tokyo Games next month.
Extending immense gratitude to the Prime Minister, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state drew inspiration from the PM’s encouragement and support to the sports fraternity and adopted a similar approach to promote and foster the sports culture by supporting the talented sportspersons in Uttar Pradesh.
“The talented players of our state were deprived of adequate resources since long, however, our government is leaving no stone unturned to provide all necessary assets to the sportspersons in order to promote sports activities for them to shine nationally and internationally,” asserted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
