Amid the nationwide panic over the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday had an interaction with India’s top sportspersons through video conference. PM Modi shared five-point mantra of Sankalp, Sanyam, Sakaratmakta, Samman and Sahyog with players to deal with coronavirus outbreak.
PM Modi said that sportspersons have made major contributions to the nation and urge them to play an important role in boosting the morale of the nation and spreading positivity across the country.
According to PMO, the sportspersons thanked PM Modi for ensuring frontline health care workers and police personnel involved in this battle get respect they deserve for their selfless service.
The conversation took place via video call where everyone talked about the importance of discipline, mental strength, following fitness regimen and steps to boost immunity.
PM Narendra Modi, in a clip uploaded by shuttler Sai Praneeth, can be heard saying that he is confident that India will be rejuvenated by the inspiration that its sports stars can provide.
Your suggestions will be taken note of. We are fighting this pandemic like Team India. I am confident that India will be rejuvenated by the inspiration provided by you, Modi said.
Meanwhile, renowned table tennis player Achantha Sharath Kamal, who also attended the video conference, said PM Modi made a reference to Virat Kohli’s fighting spirit’ in his conversation.
“The PM asked us to spread awareness on social distancing and hygiene. He spoke about how we need Virat’s (Kohli) fighting spirit to win this battle,” added veteran table tennis player Sharath Kamal.
As many as 49 athletes, along with sports minister Kiren Rijiju, participated in the video call.
Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Yuvraj Singh from cricket world were present in the video meeting.
The ministry source had told PTI the athletes have been requested to spread awareness about social distancing through their social media pages.
“The will ask them to pass across the message of maintaining the lockdown. He will urge them to post videos to keep people occupied,” the source revealed.
The novel coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China has put the entire world in a lockdown. A 21-day shutdown has been implemented across India, but the only closure will not extinguish epidemics because the deadly virus is spreading exponentially across the world and is bent upon killing human beings, eliminating them.
Coronavirus is a contagious disease. This virus spreads through the droplets of coughing and sneezing. It is a battle of life and death and we have to win it. We should join forces in the time of crisis. God Willing the whole world would come out soon of this pandemic.
