The Indian contingent that represented the country in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games contingent on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence. The Indian contingent ended the mega event with 61 medals to their kitty, including 22 gold. Stars like PV Sindhu, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Lakshya Sen ended up winning the gold medal.
The official Twitter handle of Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Saturday put out pictures of the contingent getting ready to meet Prime Minister Modi at his home.
Speaking while interacting with athletes, PM Modi said: "I am happy that all of you have taken time out of your schedule to come to meet me at my residence as members of the family. I, just like all other Indians, feel proud to be talking to you. I welcome you all. This is just the beginning for our Yuva Shakti...the Golden age of Indian sports has just begun! In the past few weeks, nation recorded two major achievements in field of sports. Besides historic performance in CWG, for the first time country hosted Chess Olympiad," he added.
"The country not only successfully hosted (Chess Olympiad) but continuing its rich tradition in Chess, gave its best performance. I also congratulate all players who participated and those who won medals at the Chess Olympiad," he added.
The Indian women's cricket team had won a silver medal after the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side fell short in the gold medal match against Australia.
The women's hockey team won bronze after defeating New Zealand while the men's hockey team won silver.
India finished 4th in the medal tally with 22 Gold, 15 Silver and 23 Bronze medals and with a total of 61 medals at the Commonwealth Games.
India delivered its fifth-best performance of all time in their Commonwealth Games history, with their best being a total of 101 medals when the games were held at home in 2010.
Achieving 61 medals this time around holds a lot of significance since shooting, which is India's most successful discipline historically with 135 medals, was not included in the games this time.
(With ANI inputs)