Shri Narendra Modi extends his good wishes to Indian athletes participating at 2012 Summer Olympics
Best wishes to our athletes. They will perform well and do India proud: Shri Modi
Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi today wished the Indian contingent participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics the very best in their quest for national glory. The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad will be held in the British capital London from 27th July to 12th August 2012.
Shri Modi wished them the very best and expressed hope that they will perform wonderfully and do India proud.
The Chief Minister himself is a great sports lover and has tried to give a boost to sporting activities in the state over the last decade. He has repeatedly expressed his desire to make sports a mass movement that can make an immense contribution to the state as well as the individual.
Over the past few years, he has also taken some novel initiatives to promote sports in Gujarat. Most notable is the annual Khel Mahakumbh, a sports extravaganza for sportsmen in Gujarat. In the 2011 Khel Mahakumbh, 18.24 lakh athletes took part in the extravaganza. Prizes worth Rs. 40 crore were distributed to the winners. 2011 Khel Mahakumbh also special as more than 60,000 specially abled athletes participated in the event. Many of them even broke various records. Shri Modi was extremely proud and called it a true celebration of sport as a mass movement. In addition, beach sports were organized for the first time for the Sagarkhedu (coastal) communities. Leading Bollywood star Akshay Kumar also came to inaugurate the 2011 Mahakumbh.
Infact, the Special Olympics Family acknowledged the true spirit of the Khel Mahakumbh through 2 letters and they wrote that such initiatives would lead the way in creating a larger movement across all nations.
Before the Khel Mahakumbh, Shri Modi has released 3 special booklets for specially abled sports persons as well as books of cricket, athletics and chess in braille script. These are truly commendable steps that will go a long way to promote sports in Gujarat. Just recently, he had flagged off the Sabarmati Marathon in Ahmedabad and a Junior National Aquatic meet at Rajkot.
