Encourage Olympians like cricketers, hoping for best performance in Tokyo: Kiren Rijiju

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New Delhi: Hoping for the best performance from the Indian contingent at the Tokyo Olympics, which begins exactly a month later, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said efforts should be made to make Olympians as popular as cricketers in the country. Asked about his medal hope at the Tokyo Olympics, the Sports Minister said he does not want to speculate but expects it to be his best performance so far. “India was not a superpower in any sport except cricket and five decades ago, hockey,” he said in an online press conference a month before the games starting July 23. We are such a big country and there is no dearth of talent here but there are not many medals in the Olympics.

He said, “I am satisfied with the preparations for the Tokyo Olympics and the players have been given the best opportunities to prepare. 1100 crore has been spent under the Annual Practice and Competition Calendar (ACTC) in four years. We are sending a big contingent with full preparation and hope the performance will be the best ever.” Rijiju said, “The players have practiced abroad, at Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad SAI centers and at NIS Patiala with all facilities. We have high expectations from them.” Asked about the Rs 10 crore assistance received from the Cricket Board of India for the preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, the Sports Minister said, “Every Indian and every organization should help in the Olympic campaign. BCCI is a very capable body and they wanted to help. They will give this amount to the Indian Olympic Association and they will see how to use it.”

When asked about the vaccination of the players going to the Tokyo Olympics, he said, “Around 99 percent of the players, coaches, support staff have received the first dose of the vaccine. The process of administering the second dose is in progress. They are getting vaccines on priority basis like corona warriors. Vaccines are being administered through embassies to the players who are preparing for abroad. When asked what will be the arrangement in Tokyo if an Indian becomes a victim of corona infection, the Sports Minister said, “Settlement in Tokyo is not under my jurisdiction but we have set up an Olympic cell in our embassy in Japan which will provide full backup support to the players.” So that they do not face any kind of inconvenience.” When asked about the official farewell ceremony of the Indian contingent, he said, “Amidst the corona epidemic, this ceremony will be virtual and I will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend it.” This will happen before the departure of the Indian contingent on July 17 or 18. Work is going on on this.”

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Rijiju also said that due to the Corona epidemic, India’s fans cannot go to Tokyo and there will be no spectators in the stadium but we will encourage our team with the ‘Cheer for India’ campaign. “I am sad to see this. It happens that everyone knows the cricketers in our country but not the Olympians even though it is the biggest event in the world. For example Tejinder Pal Toor is Asian gold medalist and has qualified for Olympics but how many people know him. She has only two thousand followers on Instagram. Why so?”

For the Tokyo Olympics, the ministry has also made a short film ‘Olympic Ki Asha’, which tells the short story of the journey of the Olympians. Apart from this, India’s theme song for the Tokyo Olympics will also be launched tomorrow. Rijiju said, “Our theme song for Olympics is sung by playback singer Mohit Chauhan and will be in front of everyone tomorrow. Along with this, selfie points with Olympic logos will be created at various stadiums and famous places where people will be able to take pictures and share them with the hashtag ‘Cheer for India’. There will also be an Olympic Quiz and Olympic Dialogue.

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