PM Modi will host Tokyo Paralympians just like he hosted Olympians: Anurag Thakur

Team Udayavani, Sep 5, 2021, 12:44 PM IST

Bengaluru: Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Anurag Thakur on Sunday stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hosting the Tokyo Paralympians just like he hosted the Olympians.

Addressing presspersons outside Banglore airport he congratulated Krishna Nagar and Suhas Yathiraj on winning gold and silver respectively at the Tokyo Paralympics to close the Indian campaign at Games on an all-time high of 19 medals.

“What could be better news when you land in Karnataka and our young athlete who has won another medal for India belongs to Karnataka,” he said.

“My heartfelt congratulations to both the medallist, winning gold and silver for us. I was looking at 2016 numbers. We had a 19 member contingent in 2016 and in 2021 we have won 19 Paralympic medals. It clearly showcases India has done well, our medal tally has say increased 5 times. It’s a big achievement, a big congratulations to all the athletes,”he added.

India sent its highest ever contingent of 54 para-athletes across as many as 9 sporting disciplines at Games. Badminton and Taekwondo made their debut in Tokyo, both of which were represented by India.

Since making its first appearance at the Paralympics in 1968, India had won 12 medals in total till the 2016 Rio edition. It has now drastically improved upon that entire number by 7 medals at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 alone.

“If you look at PM Modi’s vision when he took over as Prime Minister of this country, even for specially-abled, he had a special focus,” Anurag said.
“It’s not today that PM Modi is looking at Paralympics, when he was CM of Gujarat he had special focus on sports. And that is why when he became PM he started TOPS, the Khelo India programme. At the grasroot level and the elite level programme which has actually helped us to provide the facilities to the players and athletes,” he added.

Anurag Thakur also said that PM Narendra Modi will be hosting Paralympians just like he hosted Olympians. Sports Minister also added that he will make big plans with federations on how in 2024 and 2028 India could do better at Games.