Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra expressed appreciation to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh for organizing a banquet for Olympic medalists and participants, and for treating athletes with the utmost respect.
“I am feeling happy that for the first time any chief minister is taking out time like this for sportspersons. This shows how much he loves sports and sportspersons. I thank him for giving us so much respect,” said Mr. Chopra while speaking to reporters in Chandigarh about the dinner hosted by the Chief Minister at his farmhouse in Mohali on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister was seen serving his guests personally, straight out of the ‘patilas’ in which he had cooked his choicest dishes earlier during the day.
“I started at 11 in the morning. Most of it was done by around 5 pm., and then it was time for some final touches. But I loved every minute of it,” said the Chief Minister in an official statement.
“They (the sportspersons) worked so hard to win us glory, what I have done for them is nothing in comparison,” he added.
Besides Olympic Javelin Throw gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, the special guests for the evening included Olympics bronze medalist hockey players Manpreet Singh (Captain), Harmanpreet Singh (Vice-Captain), Mandeep Singh, Hardik Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Varun Kumar, and Simranjit Singh.
“Privileged to have hosted our Olympians for dinner tonight. Thoroughly enjoyed cooking for them. May you continue to bring great laurels to the country,” Chief Minister tweeted yesterday.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Chopra also said that after the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the perspective towards sports has changed in a positive manner.
“I am sure that the Indian government will work towards creating better infrastructure for sports and provide facilities to sportspersons,” said Mr. Chopra.
