Kiren Rijiju declares Judo as a priority sport; wishes Judokas ahead of Olympic qualifier
Wishing a 5-member Judokas team "best of luck" ahead of their tour to Budapest Grand Slam, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju declared that Judo is now a priority
Wishing a five-member Judokas team "best of luck" ahead of their tour to Budapest Grand Slam- an Olympic qualifier, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju declared that Judo was now a priority sport for the nation and preparations were in place to ensure that a strong talent pool emerged for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics.
“The team is leaving for Hungary today and I am hopeful that some of the athletes will qualify. Judo is a priority sport for us and we will enhance capacity both in terms of training facilities and coaches. The idea is to extend full support to the elite athletes while building up a talent pool of young athletes who can compete in the Olympics of 2024 and 2028. We will discuss a more exhaustive roadmap with the federation and plan ahead," Rijiju said after meeting the Judo team member in person at his residence on Monday.
Players thank Sports Minister
“I am feeling very positive after meeting the Sports Minister. He spoke to us and shared his knowledge which is really helpful. This will be the first tournament we will be played after the Covid lockdown. We used to play every month earlier, so it is really good to be playing again. From the entire Judo fraternity, would like to thank the Sports Ministry, Sports Authority of India and the Judo Federation of India for organising this for us," Jasleen Singh Saini, a member of the men’s judoka team said.
“This is the first time we have met the Sports Minister and he is really doing a lot for sports in India so with his encouragement, we are feeling very motivated. It is good to play once again after the lockdown and would like to thank SAI for the support in getting this international exposure organised for us. We will try to give our best," Sushila Devi, the highest-ranked Indian women’s judoka said.
Other judokas participating in the meet are Tulika Mann, Avtar Singh and Vijay Yadav. Around 645 competitors from around 81 countries will be participating in this tournament.
Published By : Suman Ray
Published On: 19 October 2020 at 21:25 IST