Jaipur, (IANS)| Arjuna Awardee and 4x400m sprinter Arokia Rajeev shared his experiences on Sports Tiger’s exclusive interview series Mission Gold. During this, he said that India will definitely win more medals in Tokyo Olympics than London Olympics. Rajiv said, “The pandemic had disturbed us mentally, somehow we managed to fight it but it has left an impact on our mind. We were doing regular exercises but suddenly we reached zero due to imposition of lockdown. Because we couldn’t go to the ground. When we started practicing again, another lockdown was imposed and practice was affected again. But with the Olympics being so close, we were determined to struggle a bit to get there. We tried to keep ourselves fit by doing whatever exercises we could at home. After a few months AFI (Athletics Federation of India) sent us to Patiala where we practiced for a year to prepare for the competitions. Meanwhile, the number of Kovid-19 cases in India kept increasing and many countries banned flights to and from India and hence we did not get the opportunity to participate in many competitions.
Rajeev said, “I am very happy that we have qualified for Tokyo-2020, now our aim is to perform to the best of our ability and give our 100 per cent on the track. It is a big event and last time we have experience. We are working on our weak points and learning from past mistakes and rectifying them. We are going there as a team and we have to work together. I am in the team I am the senior most, so I have more responsibilities. I have to give my best and also bring medals for the country.”
Rajiv also remembered the time when he had the opportunity to meet the great athlete of our country, Late Milkha Singh ji. The joy of meeting his hero left a positive impression on him. He said, “I got a chance to meet Milkha sir once. He inspired us during his travels. I have also seen his film which was extremely inspiring and we learned a lot from his mistakes. He is a great influence in the world of athletics. He was a big personality and a really down to earth person.”
Along with the experience of interacting with the great athlete, he also thanked the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for his never-ending support towards the athletes. He talked about how the PM had tweeted to the nation not to put extra pressure on the athletes and he wants us to play and do our best. Talking about the tweet, he said, “Modi sir has been very helpful to the athletes. We have met him many times and he has given us a warm welcome every time. Whenever we have met him, he has always been one of us. addressed each one by our name. His words inspire us and it is good that he is speaking about us. He then said, “We are not going to the Olympics just to play. We are going there to win medals.” Huh.”
Rajiv is highly optimistic about giving his best in the Olympics and is positive about Team India’s chances of fetching more medals than in 2012. “We will definitely win more medals in Tokyo 2020 than London Olympics 2012,” he said.
(Disclaimer: This news has been published directly from news agency’s Syndicate feed. It has not been edited by AnyTV News team.)