New Delhi: Players and coaches, who participated in the Rio Olympics, and are employees of Public Sector Oil and Gas Companies, were felicitated in a ceremony at New Delhi today. The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan gave awards to all the 28 Rio Participants from the Petroleum family. Some other eminent sportspersons, who have gained repute earlier, and belong to the PSUs were also honoured. Nine budding young sportspersons, who have selected through GAIL Raftar competition all over the country, were also felicitated.
Congratulating the sportspersons for bringing laurels to the country, Shri Pardhan said that 24% of the Indian Rio Contingent was from the Public Sector Petroleum companies. He said that the sportspersons are the brand ambassadors of the Companies and the nation, and they unify the country through their performance. Stressing on long term planning and financial support, Shri Pradhan said that sports culture has to be inculcated on large scale. He said that most of the sportspersons in the country have to overcome several hardships, and hence whole-hearted support is required so that they can perform better at international level. The Minister specially praised Ms P.V.Sindhu for her grit, determination and fighting spirit.
The Rio participants felicitated today were: Atanu das, J. Mathews, M.R.Poovamma, R.Mohan Kumar, Shiva Thapa, Vishal Khandekar, S.V.Sunil, Manpreet Singh, Devinder Walmiki, V.R. Raghunath, S.K.Uthappa, Harmanpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh, Kavita Raut, Rohan Bopanna, P.Thombre, Manike Batra, Mouma Das, Sharad kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, Heena Sindhu, P.Gopichand, K.Srikanth, Manu Atri, Ashwini Ponappa, Jwala Gutta, Saina Nehwal, and P.V.Sindhu.
