New Delhi [India], May 24 (ANI): It was a double celebration for Indian Sports on Tuesday as Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur felicitated India's Archery and Boxing contingents who have returned from the World Cup in Korea and Women's World Championship in Turkey, respectively.

The felicitation programmes were held at the SAI's National Centre of Excellence in Indira Gandhi Stadium, which is also the training ground for India's elite boxers. India won 5 medals in the Archery World Cup and 3 in the Women's Boxing World Championships over the last few days. 16 Indian archers won a Gold in the Men's Compound Archery, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals, while the women boxers bagged a World Championship Gold and two bronze medals.

Boxer Nikhat Zareen who won the World Championship gold in her weight category and became the fifth Indian woman to do so, spoke with passion at the event when she said, "I am standing here as a World Champion today and I will stand here again as an Olympic medalist as well." Medalist boxers Manisha Moun and Parveen bagged bronze medals.

Lauding Nikhat's zeal, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said, "Our Betis (daughters) have made us proud. There was a time when Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to speak about Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao and now it's bearing fruit. Nikhat said she doesn't want to stop; she wants to win more medals. We need this passion and dedication from you all. We have to keep going forward. You are the inspiration for grassroots athletes. The TOPS scheme has ensured everyone gets the facilities. We must celebrate what we have achieved today but always aim for the next big championship. Let's bring more medals for India in Olympics 2024."Urging those present for the felicitation programme to show their appreciation for the medalists, Thakur said, "They have worked so hard to win these medals, I am sure we can clap hard to show them how much this win means for the country. We must make it our habit to show our appreciation for our athletes because they are doing it for the country." Saying that he clapped for the athletes for a long time, in a unique gesture to appreciate their hard work.

The winning archery disciplines included the Men's Compound archery team and individual medals, Women's Compound Team, Mixed Compound team and Women's recurve team. The Men's Compound team of Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Aman Sani bagged a gold, while the only individual silver medal was won by Mohan Bharadwaj in Men's Compound Archery. Muskan Kirar, Avneet Kaur, Priya Gurjar of the Women's Compound Team, Abhishek Verma, AVneet Kaur of the Mixed Compound Team and Ridhi, Komolika Bari and Ankita Bhakat of the Women's Recurve Team who the three bronze medals.

Sharing their experience of the tournament Abhishek Verma said, "We were preparing for the Asian Games so the team is in a great form now. There has been a significant improvement in India's archery in terms of accuracy and technical aspects. With the all-around support in terms of infrastructure, coaching, exposure, and camps from the federation and the government, we are able to achieve so much. Going forward this momentum will continue and in June, as we go in for the next stage of the World Cup we will come back with more medals."The boxing event was attended by BFI President Ajay Singh, and Secretary-General Hemanta Kalita, while the archery event was attended by Virendra Sachdeva, Member, Core Committee Archery Association of India. Sandip Pradhan, Director General of SAI, L.S Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs and CEO TOPS, Commodore Garg were present for the events. (ANI)