India’s women cricketers honoured
new delhi — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday interacted with the players and officials of the Indian women’s cricket team that recently emerged runners-up in the women’s cricket World Cup.
Players said that this was the first time that they had seen a Prime Minister tweet for the women’s cricket team. Team members said that they felt proud, happy and inspired to know that the Prime Minister was following their progress.
Responding to questions asked by the players on handling pressure, Modi said that Yoga helps achieve a good balance between mind, body and action. He also said that practice of Yoga helps develop detachment.
Telling the players that they had not “lost”, the Prime Minister said that 125 crore Indians carried their defeat in the final, on their shoulders, and this was, in fact, their greatest victory.
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Railways honoured the women cricketers who lost the World Cup final to England at Lord’s recently.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India presented cheques of Rs 5 million each to the cricketers and Rs 2.5 million each to the support staff of the team. The event was held at the Taj Mansingh Hotel.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu promoted the 10 Railway players in the Indian team and gave away cash awards amounting to a total of Rs 13 million to them.
Prabhu declared team skipper Mithali Raj and her deputy Harmanpreet Kaur as gazetted officers and announced out-of-turn promotions to the other eight Railway players. The Indian eves suffered a nine-run defeat to hosts England in the final.
Besides Raj and Harmanpreet, the others from the Railways in the team are left-arm spinners Ekta Bisht and Rajeshwari Gaikwad, opener Punam Raut, batswoman Veda Krishnamurthy, legspinner Poonam Yadav, wicketkeepers Sushma Verma and Nuzhat Parween and pacer Mona Mesharam. —