Sportsmanship should be a culture within general and social life: PM Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that sportsmanship should be a culture in general and social life of everyone and also offered a word of advice to the gold medal-winning men's and women's team of the recently-concluded Chess Olympiad.

PM Modi interacted with the winning men's and women's teams of the recently-concluded Chess Olympiad on Wednesday.

Speaking during the interaction, PM Modi said that a country becomes great when it does well in all the fields, and money, GDP etc is not the only parameter for it.

"I feel a country becomes developed, it is not only because of money and GDP, it has to do well in all fields. In films, how do we get the most Oscars. In science, how do we get most Nobel prizes. Similarly, in sports, how many gold medals we get, it makes the country great. When I was the Gujarat Chief Minister, we used to organize a Khel Mahakumbh. A lot of children used to play. I even encouraged older people to play. Kids in the country have strength. Sportsmanship should be a culture within general life and it is not only just for sportspersons," he added.

PM Modi said that in any sports and activity, physical fitness matters.

"With regards to making decisions, there has to be a lot of information in front of you, be it positive or negative. If you listen to only positive things, this leads to error in decision making. If you try to understand everything, analyse, and ask questions to experts, this makes it less difficult to make decisions. Yoga, meditation are very powerful (in helping make decisions)," he added.

PM Modi advised the chess players to never stay satisfied with anything.

"It causes sleep (laughs). There should be hunger to do something new, keep doing more," he added.

The Indian women's team won gold after beating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5. Harika, Divya, and Vantika won their respective matches in the final round, while Vaishali drew her game against Ulviyya Fataliyeva.

In the men's competition, the USA secured second place, with Uzbekistan winning bronze. In the women's competition, Kazakhstan claimed the silver medal, and the USA took bronze.

In the final round of the tournament, the Indian men's team comprising D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, and Pentala Harikrishna defeated Slovenia to clinch the gold medal. Victories from Gukesh and Arjun gave India a 2-0 lead, securing the gold. Praggnanandhaa later won his game, and Vidit drew his, resulting in a 3.5-0.5 win for India. (ANI)

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