Press Trust of India
New Delhi, July 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Monday the Indian athletes who will represent the country at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and wished them luck.
At the function conducted at the Manekshaw Centre here, the PM interacted individually with the sportspersons, and wished them luck for the August 5-21 Games.
The dignitaries who attended the function were sports minister Jitendra Singh, sports secretary Rajiv Yadav, All India Council of Sports (AICS) chairman Vijay Malhotra, IOA president N Ramachandran, secretary-general Rajeev Mehta and Hockey India president Narinder Batra among others.
India will be sending their biggest ever contingent to the Olympics this year with more than 100 athletes having already qualified in 13 sporting disciplines. The previous highest was 83 that the country sent in the 2012 Olympics in London.
Notable athletes who met the Prime Minister were shooters Jitu Rai, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Heena Sidhu, shuttlers PV Sindhu, K Srikanth, boxer Shiva Thapa, long distance runners Sudha Singh and Lalita Babar among others.
The Indian women’s hockey team along with chief coach Neil Hawgood and coach CR Kumar were also in attendance.
During the send-off function the athletes were seen taking selfies with the PM and his autographs.
“Great to meet our Honourable PM Shri @narendramodi ji..Thank you for all your support.jai hind????” boxer Shiva Thapa later tweeted.