Elated over the selection for the award, Deotale, the city's 'golden boy' who made the country proud by winning a hat-trick of gold medals in the Asian Games held at China said, " It is a moment of joy for me and the Nagpurians. Now my responsibility has increased to motivate the youths and attract them towards sports. Age doesn't matter to excel. The youths should deliver their best in whichever field they want." Deotale also said now the responsibility has also increased to win more medals for the country in future. " I would not like to stop here but to win more medals for the country", he said.
The current season has been memorable for Ojas, the country's most promising archer. He started it with the World Archery Championship. Ojas is the first Indian compound archer in the 92-year history of the Archery World Cup to become world champion by scoring 150 points out of 150. He achieved this feat by winning the gold medal in the World Championship held in Berlin. After this, Ojas's magic was seen in the Asian Games where he scored a hat-trick of gold medals in team, mixed and individual categories in compound archery.
It is a matter of pride for the city's sports that he has been selected for a prestigious award like Arjuna . Ojas's father Pravin Deotale has expressed happiness over his son being selected for the Arjuna Award. He said, "We are extremely happy with the selection of Ojas for the Arjuna Award and I have no words to express it."