Olympic Sailors KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar take PM Modi’s ‘Meet the Champions’ campaign to TN

Taking
PM
Modi’s
unique
school
visit
campaign
ahead,
the
Asian
Championships
Gold
Medallists
Varun
and
Gana
interacted
with
children
on
the
importance
of
having
a
balanced
and
nutritious
diet
to
build
strong
immunity
and
muscles
that
are
really
important
in
a
life
of
an
athlete.

They
also
got
the
students
to
share
their
sports
resolution
for
the
year
2022
with
the
audience
so
they
got
to
hear
the
experience
of
upcoming
athletes
as
well.

Besides
students
for
the
host
school,
student
representatives
of
75
schools
from
3
districts
of
Tamil
Nadu
also
attended
the
special
event
and
got
a
unique
opportunity
to
meet
the
local
athletes.

During
the
visit,
both
Varun
and
Gana
interacted
with
the
students
in
Tamil
and
English,
so
as
they
understood
the
importance
of
having
a
‘Santulit
Aahaar’
(Balanced
Diet),
Fitness
and
also
promoted
the
sport
of
Badminton,
which
is
quite
popular
in
Southern
region
of
the
country.

The
duo
also
showed
the
students
a
few
basic
muscle
strengthening
exercises
which
are
important
to
have
as
a
sailor
and
said,
“For
sailing,
you
need
to
have
a
balance
between
flexibility
and
strength
otherwise
the
wind
might
suddenly
change
and
throw
you
off
your
boats.
So
every
morning
we
start
our
day
with
either
running
or
cycling
to
build
on
our
flexibility
and
then
in
the
evening
we
to
weight
training,
so
we
can
build
upon
our
strength.”

Lauding
the
idea
of
Hon’ble
PM
of
asking
Olympians
and
Paralympians
to
visit
schools
across
India
and
interact
with
students,
Varun
and
Gana
said,
“We
are
extremely
excited
to
be
part
of
the
Meet
the
Champions
Movement
initiated
by
our
honourable
Prime
Minister.
It
was
great
to
be
addressing
75
schools
and
interacting
with
150+
children
of
various
districts.
Hopefully,
we
inspired
them
and
they
realise
the
importance
of
eating
healthy
and
staying
fit.
We
hope
we
have
a
next
Olympic
medallist
from
the
children
and
we
inspired
them
to
take
up
sports.”

The
unique
initiative
is
part
of
the
government’s
‘Azaadi
ka
Amrit
Mahotsav’ that
was
kicked
off
by
Olympic
Gold
medallist
Neeraj
Chopra
in
December
2021
and
then
taken
ahead
by
Olympic
Bronze
medalist
Bajrang
Punia
in
the
Northern
region
of
India.

‘Meet
the
Champions’
initiative
is
a
unique
school
visit
campaign
that,
is
jointly
being
organized
by
the
Ministry
of
Education
and
the
Ministry
of
Youth
Affairs
and
Sports.
During
their
visit,
the
Olympians
share
their
own
experiences,
life
lessons,
tips
on
how
to
eat
right
and
also
give
an
overall
inspirational
boost
to
school
children.

While
the
sailors
met
and
guided
the
school
going
students
to
keep
the
momentum
of
the
‘Meet
the
Champions’
initiative
going,
the
school
management
made
sure
that
the
school
students
followed
strict
COVID
appropriate
protocols
and
wore
masks
at
all
times
during
the
Olympian’s
short
visit.

They
also
made
sure
that
the
students
sat
at
least
2
meters
away
from
each
other
and
thus
avoided
physical
contact
from
kids
of
other
students.