Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday interacted with eminent sportspersons including Indian skipper Virat Kohli, legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly and ace shuttler PV Sindhu via video conference and asked them to keep spreading awareness regarding the deadly coronavirus amid 21-day lockdown in the country.
The Prime Minister said that coronavirus is an adversary of the entire humanity and the gravity of the situation can be ascertained from the fact that for the first time since World War II, the Olympics has been postponed.
He futher underlined that several other prominent international sporting events like Wimbledon and domestic events like Indian Premier League (IPL) have been postponed due to fear of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, PM Modi praised the sportspersons for bringing glory to the nation through stellar performances on the field.
Now they have a very significant role to play in boosting the morale of the nation as well as spreading the message of social distancing along with asking people to continuously follow advisories given during this lockdown, he added.
He underlined that the traits learnt in sports training viz the ability to face challenges, self-discipline, positivity and self-belief are the essential tools to combat the spread of the novel COVID-19.
Prime Minister further asked them to include the following five points in their message to the citizens: ‘sankalp’ to fight the pandemic, ‘sanyam’ to follow social distancing, ‘sakaratmakta’ to maintain positivity, ‘samman’ to respect the frontline soldiers in this battle including the medical fraternity, the police personnel etc and ‘sahyog’ at personal level as well as at national level through contribution to Prime Minister CARES fund.
PM Modi also asked them to highlight the importance of both physical and mental fitness and also popularize guidelines released by AYUSH Ministry.
The sportspersons praised the leadership of the Prime Minister in this challenging time. They also thanked him for ensuring that the frontline health care workers and police personnel involved in this battle get the respect they truly deserve for their selfless service.
The sportspersonalities also talked about the importance of discipline, mental strength, following a fitness regimen and taking steps to boost immunity.
The Prime Minister mentioned that it is imperative that India emerges victorious in this battle against the pandemic and expressed confidence in pro-active participation by the sportspersons in this battle.
More than 40 top sportspersons from across disciplines participated in the video conference. Besides Tendulkar, Kohli, Ganguly and Sindhu, women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal, Kabaddi player and DSP in Himanchal Pradesh Police Ajay Thakur, sprinter Hima Das, para athlete high jumper Shri Sharad Kumar, top tennis player Ankita Raina and former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh also interacted with the Prime Minister.
Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports and other senior officials of the Ministry also participated in the interaction.
Source: Zee News