The state minister made these remarks at a ceremony organised by the Maharashtra Badminton Association to felicitate silver medallist badminton player PV Sindhu and her coach Pullela Gopichand. “We need to eliminate politics from sports, although the Supreme Court has said they will eliminate politicians from sports”, he added. Its time we put physical literacy up there. I was a little irritated, and said, “catch it”. “I told the kid to catch it (the shuttle) and the kid comes back and asks me how to catch”.
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“Like Gopichand said we need not to go overboard and see that aspiration and inspiration do not get affected”.
PV Sindhu was in complete agreement with these thoughts. “In the coming years there will be many more players coming out”, she said. He referred to Gopichand’s speech and said, “It was an eye-opener”. It’s because of him that I am here today, because of his hard work and sacrifice.
“I am also thankful to my parents, I started at the age of eight and half, so since then, they were Volleyball players and my dad was an Arjuna award in Volleyball, but they didn’t ask me why did you chose Badminton”. Despite being volleyball players themselves, they didn’t question my decision to pick badminton. “I feel, due to their support and motivation, I am here today”, said Sindhu.
Sitting on the podium where she was to receive a cash prize by the CM, Sindhu was left trying to make sense of Tawde’s idea.
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It was a momentous evening when the State opened its heart and purse in a big way to its own who qualified for the Rio Olympics, but lost in the first round, quarter-final and someone like Lalita Babar who finished 10th in the 3000m women’s steeplechase event. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present at the ceremony. “These sportpersons are Ayonika Paul, Prarthana Thombare, Dattu Bhonkanal, Devraj Walmiki and Kavita Raut”, the Chief Minister said.
