Daughters made us proud at Rio, says Modi

Praising the efforts of Indian athletes at the Rio Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the country's "daughters" made the country proud.

"The two medals we got were bagged by the daughters of this nation. There were other girls who almost made it and performed well. Once again they proved that they are no lesser than anyone else in any manner," Modi said while referring to shuttler P.V. Sindhu, wrestler Sakshi Malik and gymnast Deepa Karmakar.

"They were from north India, south India, the northeast and other different parts. It seems daughters of India had resolved to make this country proud," he said in his monthly radio talk.

He also praised other athletes and sportsperson and said that though they could not get any medal, their performance was very good.

"For the first time, Deepa Karmakar made it to the gymnastics, 36 years later the women's hockey team qualified, 32 years after P.T. Usha Indian runner O.P Jaisha managed to qualify for marathon, Abhinav Bindra came fourth, boxer Vikas Yadav also performed well," Modi said.

Praising the Indian men's hockey team, he said the winning team Argentina lost only to the Indian team.

Saying that country had to do a lot and that the central government had already formed a committee to take necessary steps for improving performances in future, Modi also urged states to focus on at least two sports of their choices.

"The times to come are good but it would only be possible when we change our attitude and the way we had been working so far," he said.

He also asked the people to change their mentality and allow their children to pursue sports.

"We are preparing our children for jobs and most of us see sports as a waste of time. Its time to change the mentality," Modi said.

--IANS

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