Defence Minister Rajnath Singh renames ASI Stadium after Neeraj Chopra, felicitates 'Defence Forces Olympians'

Pune: Felicitating gold medal-winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and other Olympians serving with the defence forces at the Army Sports Institute (ASI), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday urged them to make India a “sports power”. Speaking at a ceremony where the institute’s stadium was named after Chopra, Singh also said he was awaiting the day when India would host the Olympic Games. You are not just players but leaders of the Indian youth. It is the responsibility of leaders to give the right direction to the followers," he said. “Make a resolve, today we all have to make a resolve to make India sports power in the days to come, he said after felicitating the ‘Defence Forces’ Olympians’ who took part in the Tokyo Games. “After looking at all these players, I am assured that this resolve will be fulfilled. Our prime minister has shown immense interest in sports, which is unprecedented. I have been in politics for a long time, but the interest shown by the current prime minister in sports is beyond imagination. He boosted the morale of players by interacting and eating with them,” Singh added. “I am waiting for that moment when India will get the opportunity to host the Olympics,” the Union minister said. The performance in Tokyo was the country’s best performance at the Olympics, Singh noted. “Those Olympians who missed the medal by a whisker, they are no less than winners. They represented India in the Olympics which in itself is a matter of pride. This is our best performance in the Olympics so far, but we don’t have to be satisfied here. We will have to strive hard to achieve further,” he added. Singh also lauded the ASI’s efforts to help athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown. Despite COVID, we had a spectacular performance in the Olympics, which is not a small thing. There were constraints on training, proper training was not happening. However, despite all these odds, the players gave a spectacular performance and ASI played a key role. “I would like to express my gratitude and respect towards this institute, this is a world renowned sports institute of the Army and I was told that 34 Olympians, 22 Commonwealth Games medal winners and 21 Asian Games medal winners were produced by the ASI,” he said. During lockdown, when it was difficult for players to get training, the ASI took equipment to their doorstop, the minister noted. Singh renamed the ASI Stadium after Chopra on this occasion. The 23-year-old who bagged the country’s first gold in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics was present during the ceremony. A shawl signed by the Olympians from the forces was also presented to the Defence Minister. Besides Chopra, Tarundeep Rai (archery), Pravin Jadhav (archery), Amit (boxing), Manish Kaushik (boxing), Satish Kumar (boxing), CA Kuttappa (boxing coach), Chotelal Yadav (Mary Kom’s coach), Deepak Punia (wrestling), Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh (rowing), Vishnu Saravanan (sailing) were among those who were felicitated. Deepak Kumar (shooting), Avinash Sable (athletics), Amrish Kumar (athletics coach), Irfan KT (athletics), Rahul (athletics), Sandeep Kumar (athletics), Gurpreet Singh (athletics), Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (athletics), MP Jabir (athletics), Shivpal Singh (athletics), Alex Antony (athletics), Abhishek Pandey (physiotherapist with athletics team) and members of the 4x400 relay team who are employed with the Forces were also feted on the occasion. Army chief General MM Naravane was also present. Singh also had special words of praise for Neeraj. Neeraj Chopra has written his name in gold letters and joined the glorious tradition of Major Dhyan Chand, Captain Milkha Singh, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore and Captain Vijay Kumar, he said. The defence minister also appreciated the efforts of pugilist Satish Kumar, who despite having 13 stitches gave a spectacular performance in the quarter-final.