Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday felicitated Defence Forces personnel who took part in the Tokyo Olympics, including Olympic gold medal winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) here.
The minister also re-named the ASI Stadium after Neeraj, who bagged the country’s first gold in athletics, and the athlete was presented with a replica of javelin.
A shawl, signed by the Olympians, was also presented to the Defence Minister.
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Among those felicitated were: Archery: Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav; athletics: Neeraj Chopra; boxing: Amit, Manish Kaushik, Satish Kumar, coaches CA Kuttappa and Chotelal Yadav; wrestling: Deepak Punia; rowing: Arjun Lal Jat; sailing: Vishnu Saravanan.
“The government will give encouragement to each and every individual from the sports community and the State governments are also making good contributions in facilitating players.
“I am waiting for that moment, when India will get an opportunity to host the Olympic Games,” said Rajnath while addressing the gathering.
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The army chief, General M.M. Naravane, was present on the occasion.