PM Narendra Modi praised the sportspersons for bringing glory to the nation through stellar performances on the field. Now they have a very important role to play in boosting the morale of the nation as well as spreading the message of social distancing along with asking people to continuously follow advisories given during lockdown, he said
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (April 3) interacted with more than 40 top sportspersons including batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, cricket team captain Virat Kohli, badminton world champion PV Sindhu, and gave a five-point mantra to tackle the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
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More than 40 top sportspersons from across disciplines including Tendulkar, Kohli, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal, ace badminton player Sindhu, Kabaddi player and DSP in Himanchal Pradesh Police Ajay Thakur, sprinter Hima Das, para athlete high jumper Sharad Kumar, top tennis player Ankita Raina, former cricketer Yuvraj Singh participated in the video conference. Union minister for youth affairs and sports Kiren Rijiju and other senior officials of the ministry also participated in the interaction.
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"Interacted with sportspersons via video conferencing on the situation arising due to COVID-19. Sports requires self-discipline, tenacity, teamwork and a fighting spirit. These are also required to defeat Coronavirus. #IndiaFightsCorona," PM Modi tweeted.
He added, "From sharing videos that reaffirm the importance of fitness, helping the poor and needy, emphasising on social distancing as well as contributing to efforts such as PM-CARES, our sportspersons are doing excellent towards making India free from COVID-19."
PM Modi asked them to include the following five points in their message to people, ‘sankalp’ to fight the pandemic, ‘sanyam’ to follow social distancing, ‘sakaratmakta’ to maintain positivity, ‘samman’ to respect the frontline soldiers in this battle including the medical fraternity, the police personnel etc and ‘sahyog’ at personal level as well as at national level through contribution to PM-CARES fund. He also asked them to highlight the importance of both physical and mental fitness and also popularize guidelines released by AYUSH Ministry.
Interacted with sportspersons via video conferencing on the situation arising due to COVID-19. Sports requires self-discipline, tenacity, teamwork and a fighting spirit. These are also required to defeat Coronavirus. https://t.co/OuWHisdaVX
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi)He said that COVID-19 is an adversary of the entire humanity and the gravity of the situation can be ascertained from the fact that for the first time since World War II, the Olympics has been postponed. Several other prominent international sporting events like Wimbledon and domestic sporting events like Indian Premier League for cricket have been shifted as well due to the challenges created by the pandemic.
He praised the sportspersons for bringing glory to the nation through stellar performances on the field. Now they have a very important role to play in boosting the morale of the nation as well as spreading the message of social distancing along with asking people to continuously follow advisories given during lockdown, he said.
He underlined that the traits learnt in sports training, the ability to face challenges, self-discipline, positivity and self-belief are the essential tools to combat the spread of the virus.
The sportspersons praised the leadership of PM Modi in this challenging time. They also thanked him for ensuring that the frontline health care workers and police personnel involved in this battle get the respect they truly deserve for their selfless service. They talked about the importance of discipline, mental strength, following a fitness regimen and taking steps to boost immunity.
PM Modi mentioned that it is imperative India emerges victorious in this battle against the pandemic and expressed confidence in pro-active participation by the sportspersons in this battle.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.