As Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government at the Centre completed one year of its second term on May 30, let us have a look at how Fit India Movement and other initiatives by the government have encouraged sports and fitness in India.
Last year in August, Modi had launched 'Fit India Movement' under which the government made playfields and sporting infrastructure accessible to all sportspersons without fee, thus making it possible for aspiring athletes to train.
Prime Minister Modi had inaugurated the Khelo India University games which took place in Bhubaneswar in 2020. The Khelo India program has been introduced to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in the country.
In 2019, Khelo India Youth Games for school children took place during which a Mass Athlete Awareness Programme against Doping in Sports was carried out by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). The program was aimed at educating over 3,200 national level young athletes to raise awareness about the dangers and risks posed by doping.
Prime Minister Modi has also encouraged India's athletes by interacting with athletes on several occasions.
In the last one year, India has excelled at the world level in various disciplines. India jointly topped the medal tally with Hungary in the ISSF World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) 2019 with three Gold and one Silver medals.
India bagged 28 Gold medals in Asian Youth Chess Championship held in Sri Lanka. Also, the country clinched two gold medals each in Asian Athletics Championship held at Doha and Asian Boxing Championship held at Bangkok in 2019.
The country also won one silver and two bronze medals at the Archery World Championship in Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands in June 2019 while picked 35 medals at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships.
In addition, India grabbed all the gold medals in the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in July 2019.
In the 2019 Special Olympics, India's players won 368 medals including 85 Gold, 154 Silver and 129 Bronze. Moreover, India stood at 3rd position in the tournament's Medal Tally.
( With inputs from ANI )