Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the recently returned Indian contingent from the Paris Olympics 2024 at his residence on Thursday. The Indian PM invited the athletes to his residence in New Delhi and interacted with them.
He shared some humorous exchanges with the athletes. One such laughable moment came when the Indian PM talked about the lack of ACs at the Paris Games village which troubled the athletes.
He asked the athletes who all cursed him for the AC woes, to which no one replied. "AC nahi tha or garmi bahot lagti thi. Sabse Pehle kon chillaya? 'Ye kya kar rakha hai Modi baatein to badi karta hai lekin AC bhi nahi hai kamre me'. Kon tha jise sabse zyada pareshani hui? (There were no ACs and it was hot as well, so I want to know which of you cried first saying ‘Modi speaks big but there are no ACs in rooms so what should we do')," Modi said.
"Lekin mujhe pata laga ki kuch hi ghanto me vo kaam bhi pura kar diya. Dekhiye itna khayal rakha jaata hai khiladio ka (But then I learnt that within few hours that work also was done. See, how we try to provide you the best of facilities)," he added.
He also shared light moments with the Indian hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh, who helped India bag its second consecutive bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. Nicknamed the 'Sarpanch' of the team, Harmanpreet shared how his men dealt with the arduous task of being a man down in their hard-fought win over Great Britain in the quarterfinal.
"Great Britain ke sath ap logo ko 10 players ke sath ladna tha. To kya shuru me hi demoralize ho gaye the? Kuch to bataiye Sarpanch Sahab (You had to fight against Great Britain with 10 players. Did you get demoralized? Tell me about that Sarpanch Sahab)," Modi asked.
"Ji bilkul sir. Bahot mushkil tha kyuki pehle quarter me red-card ho gaya tha. Hanare coaching staff ne kaafi help ki hai hamari. Humne visualise kiya hua tha kyuki Olympics me kuch bhi ho sakta hai. Saari team ka josh badh gaya. Kyuki GB ke sath fight bhi rehti hai (It was very difficult sir. Our player (Amit Rohidas) was red-carded in the first quarter itself (second quarter)," Harmanpreet said before Modi quipped with "Vo 150 saal se chali aa rahi hai (That is going on from 150 years)".
