“Our para-athletes are our strength and they give us inspiration,” says Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju

“Our para-athletes are our strength and they give us inspiration,” says Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju

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Kiren Rijiju

Sports Minister of India, Kiren Rijiju stated that the para-athletes of the country are a source of great inspiration and strength. He further assured that the government will treat them at par with athletes who are not so and are able-bodied. He made the statement during a virtual session according to IndiaTVNews.

The session was organized to commemorate the 29th World Disability Day. The same was attended by the president of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), Deepa Malik and other famous para-athletes of the country including the likes of Devendra Jhajharia, Parul Parmar and Shatabdi Awasthi.

‘There is no difference between able-bodied and differently-abled’

Kiren Rijiju

Speaking at the virtual session, Kiren Rijiju said, “Our para-athletes and ‘Divyang’ warriors are our strength. They give us inspiration. In our Sports Ministry, there is no difference between an able and a differently-abled sportsperson. We felicitate them with the same amount of recognition, prize money and so on.”

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The Sports Minister further requested the state governments to give every support to Paralympic athletes. “The government, the PCI and everyone are a team and we need to carry on our work of supporting our para-athletes,” he added.

Devendra Jhajharia also spoke during the session and thanked the government saying, “I look at most training centres across India and feel so happy that the next generation of para-athletes will have no problem as the infrastructure and facilities are already in place.”

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