Text of the Speech of Sports Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal on the Occasion of Felicitations to the Medal Winners of Incheon Asian Games -2014 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi

Following is the text of the speech of Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal at 7 Race Course Road, New Delhi today: It is such a great pleasure to greet all the athletes who won laurels for the country in the Asiad, 2014 in the august presence of our Honble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modiji. It is indeed a great honor for all of us to be invited to Honble Prime Ministers residence so that the Honble Prime Minister himself could meet each and every one of you and offer his felicitations. This is a testimony of commitment of the Honble Prime Minister and his Government for the development of sports in the country. The Honble Prime Minister has been taking keen interest in preparation of the teams and kept on asking me vjs HkkbZ dSls py jgk gS? The Honble Prime Minister is a sports lover. An additional grant of Rs.450/- Crore was made by our Honble Prime Minister to encourage sports, which were unheard of in the past and this initiative was taken, for the first time, by our Honble Prime Minister. It is because of his keen interest in sports that this breakfast meeting with the Honble Prime Minister could become possible. Despite his hectic schedule, he found time to host a breakfast for all the medal winners of Asiad-2014 and for this act of generosity, let me offer my heartfelt gratitude to him. Sir, as you know, in the recently concluded Asian Games, we finished in the 08th position with 11 gold, 10 silver and 36 bronze medals. This, I must confess, is below our expectation. This only shows that the competition in the international arena is getting tougher and tougher day-by-day and if we have to retain the top positions, we will have to work harder, faster and stronger. No athlete, even if he or she is a medal winner in the Asiad, can rest on his or her laurels because there are athletes in other parts of the world who are striving harder to better their performances. This implies that there can be no rule for complacency and we need to put in our extra efforts and cross that extra mile to achieve excellence in sports. As you all know, the Olympics-2016 is just round the corner. This is the time when we should take a solemn pledge that we will strive every nerve and muscle to bring glory to the nation in the coming Olympics. If our neighboring countries like China, Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan could all do better than us, there is no reason why we should lag behind. The Sports Authority of India has been giving excellent training facilities. We have appointed 33 foreign coaches, given all of you sufficient foreign exposure and provided best equipment that are available. Recently, I along with the Director General, Sports Authority of India, visited a private University in Chennai to see the sports facilities they have created. I was amazed. I never knew that such facilities are available in our country. SAI has now entered into an MoU with this University to send their athletes batch by batch so that their proper profiling could be done. We want to make use of the best technological advances made in the field of Bio-mechanics, Sports Sciences, Sports Psychology and Recovery so that athletes could perform better. I have asked the DG, SAI to create similar facilities in at least 05 Centers in India. Let me assure you that the Government of India will leave no stone unturned to ensure the best ever facilities for our sportspersons. We are also determined to clean up the system which is often criticized for its lack of professionalism and many unethical behaviors. There can be no gains without pains. I, on behalf of all in the Sports Ministry and SAI, congratulate all the medal winners. A special word of praise is for the Indian Hockey Team which won the Gold medal beating Pakistan in a nerve racking final. I am confident that all of you will put in your best efforts and work harder to bring bigger glory to the nation which, today, has shown a new path under the magnificent leadership of our Honble Prime Minister.

Text of the Speech of Sports Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal on the Occasion of Felicitations to the Medal Winners of Incheon Asian Games -2014 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi

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