Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hosted the Indian contingent that recently returned from the Paris Olympics 2024 at his residence. The Indian Prime Minister invited the players to his residence in New Delhi and interacted with them.
He also had some fun conversations with the players. One such funny moment came when the Indian Prime Minister talked about the lack of AC in the Paris Games Village, which was causing problems for the players.
He asked the athletes who all cursed him for the AC woes, to which no one replied. “AC nahi tha or garmi bahot lagti thi. Sabse pehle kaun cryed? ‘What has he done, Modi talks big but there is no AC in the room’. Who was the one who suffered the most? (There were no ACs and it was hot as well, so I want to know which of you cried first saying ‘Modi speaks big but there are no ACs in rooms so what should we do’),” Modi said.
“But then I learned that within few hours that work was also done. See, how we try to provide you the best of facilities),” he added.
He also shared light moments with Indian hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh, who helped India win their second consecutive bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. Known as the ‘Sarpanch’ of the team, Harmanpreet spoke about how his players handled the tough task of being one player short in the hard-fought win over Great Britain in the quarter-finals.
“You guys had to fight against Great Britain with 10 players. So did you get demoralized in the beginning? Tell me something Sarpanch Sahab (You had to fight against Great Britain with 10 players. Did you get demoralized? Tell me about that Sarpanch Sahab),” Modi asked.
“Yes absolutely Sir. It was very difficult as I was red-carded in the first quarter. Our coaching staff helped us a lot. We had visualised that anything could happen in the Olympics. The whole team was energised as we had to fight with GB as well (It was very difficult Sir. Our player (Amit Rohidas) was red-carded in the first quarter itself (second quarter),” Harmanpreet said before Modi quipped with “Vo 150 saal se chali aa rahi hai (That is going on from 150 years)”.