Sachin Tendulkar visits Olympic Games Village, gives pep talk to athletes

  Rio de Janeiro: Cricket Icon Sachin Tendulkar visited the Olympic Village and interacted with the  athletes boosting their moral. Tendulkar, who is Indian Olympic contingent’s Goodwill Ambassador, came to the village despite being hampered by the leg brace he is wearing post a knee surgery about a month ago. Despite that he walked from the transport area to the residential wing. Tendulkar was received at the Games Village by Chef de Mission Rakesh Gupta, who escorted him to the residential area and introduced him to each member of the contingent. Tendulkar, who has been tweeting and speaking in awe of the preparation the athletes put in to qualify for the Olympics, said, “I bring to you the wishes of more than a billion people from India. I am not here to give you a lecture, I know you are among the best in your sport and have worked so hard to reach this level. All I want you to know is that the entire nation is behind you and we all want you to do well.” He added, “I have played enough sport to know the hard work that is required and we all want you to put up your best performances and keep improving and not to think only about medals. Just do your best and everything will follow. My best wishes to all of you.”     The cricket legend spent an hour meeting the 60-odd athletes, who were present in the Village. He took pictures of the athletes and the athletes were thrilled to get their pictures with Sachin. He took turns for group pictures with members of each discipline separately. “This is a big thrill for me, being with you all,” he said. When asked about the feel of the Olympic Village as opposed to cricket, he said, “I stayed at the Games Village when we had cricket in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998. It was a great experience. That’s why I wanted to come and visit this place. The trip to Rio has been great and I am sure all our athletes will do their best to bring laurels to India.” Among the athletes present were the women’s hockey players, track and field athletes, including Dutee Chand, Srabani Das and others; badminton players including coach, Pullela Gopichand, golfer SSP Chawrasia, the boxers, lone judoka Avtar Singh. Gupta presented Sachin a memento on behalf of the Indian contingent and the Indian Olympic Association.