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Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra on Sunday interacted with children in a Bengaluru school and expressed hope that it may inspire them in their journey as young athletes.
Children in a Bengaluru school were left astounded as India's first-ever Olympic champion in Track and Field, Neeraj Chopra, surprised them in their classroom, on Saturday. Chopra, who is back in India between training stints spent time with the young children, who are all part of the school's sports programme. "It makes me really happy whenever I am able to put a smile on the faces of young children, and this was even more special because they were not expecting me to be there. I had some time between arriving in Bengaluru and going to an event, and I am happy that I could make the best use of it. I hope that meeting me will inspire them in their journey as young athletes," said Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra. Chopra, who will now travel to the Inspire Institute of Sport in Bellary, spent time speaking to the young children, signing autographs and recalling his Olympic Gold-winning feat. Perhaps the most special moment of the afternoon came when 30-odd children joined Chopra in reliving the National Anthem played at his Medal Ceremony at the Tokyo Olympic games. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) on March 16, approved Olympic Gold Medallist Neeraj Chopra's proposal to train at Gloria Sports Arena, Turkey for a period of 61 days.Neeraj, who under Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) funding, had trained at Gloria Sports Arena last year as well, will head to Turkey on April 1 and will remain there till May 31. The TOPS funding will cover Neeraj, his coach Klaus Bartonietz and his physiotherapist's airfare, boarding and lodging, medical insurance, and local transportation costs among others. Other significant proposals that were also approved by MOC members during the meeting were - Financial assistance towards procurement of Golf Set equipment & hiring of a personal coach, fitness & Nutrition trainer for Deaf Olympics Gold Medalist Diksha Dagar and Financial assistance for badminton players Priyanshu Rajawat towards participation in Swiss Open, Spain Masters & Orleans Masters and for shuttler Sankar Muthusamy towards participation in Orlen Polish Open and Slovenia Yonex Open. Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport's (MYAS) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) also approved double Olympic Medallist PV Sindhu's proposal to financially assist her coach Vidhi Chaudhary and fitness trainer Srikanth Madapalli towards accompanying her to the All England Championships, Swiss Open and Spain Masters. The financial assistance will cover their visa, airfare, travel, lodging, boarding and food costs among others and will also provide them with a daily allowance for other expenses.During the meeting, the MOC also approved Indian shooter and World Championships medalist Anish Bhanwala's proposal to train under Foreign Coach Ralf Schumann in Germany. He would be training in Suhl for a total of 28 days and is scheduled to fly out in the last week of March. TOPS financial assistance will also cover Anish's coach, training, and ammunition costs, along with his airfare, visa, travel, lodging, boarding and food costs among others.(ANI)
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