Rajnath felicitates Defence Forces Olympians, renames ASI stadium after Neeraj

Rajnath also re-named the ASI Stadium after Chopra, who bagged the country's first gold in athletics at the marquee event and also became the only second individual gold medallist for India after shooter Abhinav Bindra.

Pune: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday felicitated Defence Forces personnel who took part in the Tokyo Olympics, including Olympic gold medal winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) here.

Rajnath also re-named the ASI Stadium after Chopra, who bagged the country's first gold in athletics at the marquee event and also became the only second individual gold medallist for India after shooter Abhinav Bindra.

Chopra was also present on the occasion.

A shawl, which was signed by the Olympians, was also presented to the Defence Minister.

Among those, who were felicitated were Tarundeep Rai (Archery), Pravin Jadhav (Archery), Amit (Boxing), Manish Kaushik (Boxing), Satish Kumar (Boxing), CA Kuttappa (Boxing coach), Chotelal Yadav (Boxing coach Mary Kom's coach), Deepak Punia (Wrestling), Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh (Rowing), Vishnu Saravanan (Sailing) and Chopra.

Neeraj was presented with a replica of javelin.

Rajnath asserted that his government would do everything to promote sports.

"To promote sports, we will do whatever is needed and we are committed to that. And every player of the country knows about it. Our Prime Minister is encouraging all the Games and the players," Rajnath told reporters.

"The government will give encouragement to each and every individual from the sports community and the state governments are also making good contributions in facilitating players," he added.

"I am waiting for that moment, when India will get an opportunity to host the Olympic Games," said Rajnath while addressing the gathering.

Army Chief General MM Naravane was present on the occasion.

PTI