CWG: PM MODI INTERACTS WITH ATHLETES, WISHES THEM SUCCESS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday highlighted the struggle, grit and determination of the Commonwealth Games-bound athletes in a light-hearted interaction as he urged them to forget expectations and focus only on giving their best at the Birmingham multi-sport event.

“Kyun pade ho chakkar mei, koi nahi hai takaar mei. You have to play with this attitude there,” Modi said during a virtual interactive session.

Well aware of their back stories, Modi asked the athletes how they overcame the hurdles in their lives. “I joined Indian Army in 2012 and did normal duty for four years. After that I took up athletics. The hard army training and the tough Siachen Glacier posting helped me a lot during competitions,” 3000m steeple chaser Avinash Sable said.

“In my event there are a lot of obstacles, we have to jump through hurdles similar to how army training is, like crawling.”

Modi asked the 27-year-old Sable about his weight loss.

“When I was in army, my weight was quite high. But my unit motivated me to get into sports. But even for running I was quite heavy, I was 74kg but they supported and I used to get extra time for training. It took me 3-4 months and now my weight is 53kg.”

From cyclist David Beckham, the PM wanted to know if he ever thought about playing football professionally or if he ever played football with his teammate Ronaldo Singh, who is also named after a popular footballer. “We don’t play football. Most of the time goes in training for track cycling,” said a shy David, aware that the PM was making a reference to his namesake and former England football captain David Beckham.

Modi jokingly asked shuttler Treesa Jolly how she and her women’s doubles partner Gayatri Gopichand will celebrate after returning from the Games. “P V Sindhu had decided to eat ice cream after the Olympics, what are your plans?” he asked.