To honour and acknowledge the hard work of the Commonwealth Games medallists Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the Commonwealth Games athletes at his official residence. The Prime Minister met them for the first time and interacted with them in person.
He congratulated all the medallists and said that it is the golden period of Indian sports. The Prime Minister further felicitated the players and hailed the gutsy show of the Indian contingent. The Indian team returned with 61 medals from the Commonwealth Games.
"The real assessment of this performance can't be made with just number of medals, our athletes competed for neck-to-neck. There may have been a difference of 1s or 1cm but we will make that up I am confident of that.
It is just a start and we are not going to just sit quietly, the golden period of Indian sports is knocking on the doors. We have the responsibility of making a sporting system which is the best in the world, inclusive, diverse, and dynamic.No talent should be left out as they are all assets", said Prime Minister Modi.
The Indian team performed extremely well and exceeded all expectations in the multi-nation sporting event. India completely dominated the badminton, wrestling, and weightlifting events. Along with this, the Indian team also fared well in athletics, judo, and lawn bowl and ended up winning the first-ever medal for India. Apart from this, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side also won a silver in women's T20 cricket which was introduced at the CWG.
"Under Harmanpreet's leadership, India has produced a fantastic performance in cricket. All players have done well but no one had the antidote to Renuka's swing bowling. It is not a small feat to be the top wicket-taker among the greats", said Modi.
The felicitation program was attended by most of the CWG-returned athletes, including the wrestlers, weightlifters, boxers, shuttlers, and table-tennis players. Modi also congratulated the chess players who competed and won medals at the Olympiad which was hosted in Chennai.
(Inputs from PTI)
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