Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra will visit Sanskardham School in Ahmedabad on December 4 and launch Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mission to spread awareness about balanced diet, fitness and sports. During his meeting with Tokyo Olympians at his residence on August 16, Modi had urged India's Olympians and Paralympians to visit 75 schools each by the 2023 Independence Day and spread awareness against malnutrition and also play a sport with school children. On Wednesday, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur tweeted to say that javelin thrower Chopra will set in motion the PM's mission.
"PM Sh @narendramodi ji gave a clarion call to our Olympians & Paralympians to visit schools and interact with students on the importance of 'santulit aahaar', fitness, sports & more. Starting Dec 4 @Neeraj_chopra1 will be at Sanskardham School in Ahmedabad to launch this mission," Thakur wrote on his Twitter handle.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Ministry of Education are working on running this as a 'Meet the Champions' programme over the next two years. The school visits by the Olympians would begin from January next year.
The event will be held as part of the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, celebrating the country's 75th year of independence.
Chopra, who has a personal best of 88.07m metres, clinched the historic gold with a throw of 87.58m at Tokyo Games.
Athletes from the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics brought home India's biggest-ever medal haul.