New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting on Friday with 40 noted sportspersons of the country on the ongoing situation in the country due to the Covid- 19 pandemic. Modi interacted with the sports persons via video conference are Indian captain Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mary Kom.

The other prominent sportspersons included PT Usha, Pullela Gopichand, Vishwanathan Anand, Hima Das, Bajrang Punia, PV Sindhu, Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, and Cheteshwar Pujara.

PM in his tweet said that “Interaction with sportspersons via video conferencing on the situation arising due to Covid- 19. Sports require self-discipline, tenacity, teamwork and a fighting spirit. These are also required to defeat Covid- 19”.

“From sharing videos that reaffirm the importance of fitness, helping the poor and needy, emphasising on social distancing as well as contributing to efforts such as PM-CARES, our sportspersons are doing excellent towards making India free from Covid- 19,” he added in another tweet. PM Modi told them that they now they have an important role to play in boosting the morale of the nation as well as spreading the message of social distancing along with asking people to continuously follow advisories given during the lockdown.

The Prime Minister also asked them to include the following five points in their message to people: ‘Sankalp’ to fight the pandemic, ‘Sanyam’ to follow social distancing, ‘Sakaratmakta’ to maintain positivity, Samman’ to respect the frontline soldiers in this battle including the medical fraternity, the police personnel etc and ‘Sahyog’ at personal level as well as at national level through contribution to PM-CARES fund. He also asked them to highlight the importance of both physical and mental fitness and also popularize guidelines released by AYUSH Ministry.

They also thanked him for ensuring that the frontline healthcare workers and police personnel involved in this battle get the respect they truly deserve for their selfless service.