President Droupadi Murmu played a friendly game of badminton with the star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal at the Rashtrapati Bhavan's Badminton Court on July 10 (Wednesday). The official social media posted several pictures and a video of the President playing against Nehwal, an Olympic medal winner, calling her experience as inspirational.
"President Droupadi Murmu’s natural love for sports and games was seen when she played badminton with the much-celebrated player Ms. Saina Nehwal at the Badminton Court in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President’s inspiring step is in keeping with India’s emergence as a badminton-power house, with women-players making a great impact on the world stage," Rashtrapati Bhavan wrote in a post on X.
"As part of the ‘Her Story – My Story’ lecture series featuring women Padma Awardees, Ms. Saina Nehwal, an iconic Indian sportsperson, honoured with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, will deliver a talk and interact with the audience at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre tomorrow," it added.
The video of the President enjoying a leisurely game with Nehwal was shared on Instagram.
Honoured To Play With The President Of India: Saina Nehwal
While the President's post described Nehwal as an "iconic Indian sportsperson", Nehwal also said that it was an honour for her to get to play with the President. "Honoured to play with President of India .. what a memorable day of my life. Thank you so much President mam for playing badminton with me," Nehwal wrote while sharing the Instagram video of herself playing badminton with the first citizen of the country.