Anurag Thakur hopes ‘javelin in India will now become as famous as a cricket bat’ following a stunning show at Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics

Anurag Thakur hopes ‘javelin in India will now become as famous as a cricket bat’ following a stunning show at Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics

Anurag Thakur

Over the span of a month, India has bagged four medals at the Tokyo Games. Neeraj Chopra opened the tally with a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics before Sumit Antil, Devendra Jhajharia and Sundar Singh Gurjar bagged gold, silver and bronze medals in their respective categories at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics.

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur feels that the stunning performance of the nation’s javelin throwers will add to the popularity of the sport in India. Thakur is delighted with India’s scintillating performance at the Paralympics as the country’s medal tally is at 13 and continues to grow.

“I hope javelin in India will now become as famous as a cricket bat,” Thakur said. “On National Sports Day, India clinched four medals and there can’t be a better tribute than this to Major Dhyan Chand ji. There is a lot of hard work by the athletes combined with the support given by the Government to the National Sports Federation and athletes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji’s encouragement has been a driving force.“

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“Government will improve the sports ecosystem in the country and through schemes like TOPS, it will keep supporting the athletes (both core and development) in an unprecedented way,” he said.

Anurag Thakur felicitates Paralympic medallists

Anurag Thakur felicitates Paralympic medallists
Anurag Thakur felicitates Paralympic medallists

Anurag Thakur felicitated the Paralympics medallists who landed from Tokyo on Friday. Javelin throwers Sumit and Devendra along with F56 discus throw silver medallist Yogesh Kathuniya and T63 high jump bronze medallist, Sharad Kumar were the ones who met the sports minister at his office.

Sharad Kumar spoke of the support provided by the Government in their Paralympic Games campaign. The silver medallist shares that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s phone call to athletes following their events is a gesture that has been appreciated by the foreign athletes too.

“This was a very difficult Paralympics because we did not know whether the Games would happen or not. We are very happy that the Government adopted us and offered us great support through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme. The Government is working tirelessly to support us and all our sports-centric and reasonable requests are being approved quickly,” Sharad said.

“The Prime Minister’s call to every athlete after their respective events is also unprecedented and many of our international contemporary competitors are in awe of such a gesture,” he added.

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