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Petroleum Sports Promotion Board has organized a Felicitation for PSPB Hockey Players Bronze Medalist at Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Friday 13th August 2021 at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi.
The Felicitation function was celebrated for the PSPB Players participated in recently concluded in Tokyo Olympics 2020. The event was graced by Hon’ble Sh. Hardeep S Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs & Patron – PSPB, Hon’ble Sh. Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas & Labour and Employment, Sh. Tarun Kapoor (IAS), Secretary Petroleum & Chairman – PSPB and Sh. SM Vaidya, Chairman, IOCL & President, PSPB. C&MD’s, Directors of Member Organization of PSPB and Senior officials of Ministry and Oil Companies were also present in the event along with 11 sports stars PSPB Hockey Players S/Sh. Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Hardik Singh, Sumit, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Simranjit Singh, Varun Kumar.
President, PSPB welcomed the Chief Guest and other dignitaries on dais with Shawls and Bouquet
The event commenced with the National Anthem.
Audio Visual of 22 PSPB Players from various disciplines who represented the Country in Tokyo Olympics 2020 was played. Atanu Das (Archery), Deepika Kumari (Archery), B. Sai Praneeth (Badminton), Chirag Shetty (Badminton), Harmanpreet Singh (Hockey), Birendra Lakra (Hockey), Hardik Singh (Hockey), Sumit (Hockey), Vivek Sagar Prasad (Hockey), Mandeep Singh (Hockey), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (Hockey), Gurjant Singh (Hockey), Dilpreet Singh (Hockey), Simranjit Singh (Hockey), Varun Kumar (Hockey), Apurvi Chandela (Shooting), Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis), Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (Table Tennis), Manika Batra (Table Tennis), Ankita Raina (Tennis), Sumit Nagal (Tennis), Soumyadeep Roy – Coach (Table Tennis)
Sh. SM Vaidya, Chairman, IOCL & President, PSPB in his opening address welcomes Hon’ble Minister, Minister of State, Secretary – Petroleum, C&MDs of Oil Companies, Senior Officials from Ministry, Ex Olympians and star Hockey Players. He expressed that recently concluded Tokyo Olympics is a turning point for 1.3 billion people of India and specially the first ever Gold Medal in Athletics won by Sh. Neeraj Chopra and Bronze Medal by our Indian Hockey Team after 4 decades. All these moments should be scripted in history of Indian Sport with Golden letters. He also added perhaps, heroic display of Olympians can only be matched with the 1983 World Cup won by Indian Cricket Team in the leadership of Kapil Dev. This time we have bettered our medal tally compare to the previous best at London Olympics, this extra medal speaks that our potentiality to compete best in the world. He added that now we are more powerful, stronger, smart and fully geared to compete against best in class. He went on to say that we are gathered here for our Hockey Heros’ who made our entire Nation Proud. Petroleum & Natural Gas ministry has rich history in supporting budding talent, wherein PSPB act as an Spring Ball to fulfill the aspirations of all the sports talent. PSPB is proudly associated with galaxy of priceless gems who astonished at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. In fact there are 22 players from PSPB out of 125 from Indian contingent. He also mentioned that objective of PSPB i.e. Encourage, Develop, Control, Supervise, Regulate and coordinate, and is providing the right platform for India to emerge as a sporting event. During the 17 days action packed sporting extravaganza PSPB is along with entire nation cheer for eleven Hockey stars.
There after Audio Visual movie was showcased capturing sensational moments during their quest for Bronze Medal at Tokyo Olympics were played on screen.
Sh. Tarun Kapoor – Secretary, Petroleum & Chairman, PSPB in his speech addressing to Hockey Players said that it is proud moment for us that you stars and sitting in front of us. We are very happy that you are part of our family as you are associated with PSUs. After a long gap we have won a medal in Hockey which raised a hope that India will perform well in upcoming National & International events. He concluded his speech by saying that we will not move back and bring more medals for India. Further he added that the players should not be disheartened that they got bronze medal because the bronze medal has been achieved after winning a match.
Sh. Rameswar Teli – Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural & Gas and Labour & Employment in his address to the gathering spoke about the winning of the bronze medal and also said that Indian Hockey team has raised the honor of India and it’s a proud moment for the Petroleum Fraternity. He also mentioned about the contribution of Women Hockey team and congratulate them for their performance at Tokyo Olympics. In his address to players, he said that players should play the match with game spirit. And wishing all the players for the future.
Sh. Hardeep S Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs – in his addressed and complemented the team that we instead of sitting on the dais players should have been given the privilege of sitting on the Dais. He also requested all the audience to stand up and gave them a standing ovation as they have brought glory for India and it is a very proud moment for all country man. He also shared his life experience where he reminded his old school days of Olympics Medals and positions of Hockey players. He states that you have not just won the medal, you have rekindled the game spirit that Indian Hockey is back in action and mentioned that I was not much focused and involved in such activities and now I will more focus in sports activities. He once again congratulates all the 11 players from BPCL, ONGC & IOCL and announced a reward of Rs.15 lakh for each player and mentioned that this reward is being paid by respective organization. He also announced one out of turn promotion to all the players in their respective organization for outstanding performance in Tokyo Olympics. In his conclusion remark he mentioned that Petroleum Ministry will ensure that new talents are being nurtured. As a surprise element PSPB presented mementos in the form of a Hockey Sticks was presented to all the dignitaries by the Olympic players which was signed by all 11 players and appreciated by all. During the program a special T Shirt depicting the Bronze Medal and also signed by all 11 players was unveiled by all the dignitaries on the dais.
Shri Arif Akhtar, Member Secretary (PSPB) in his speech and express his gratitude that on behalf of PSPB Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Urban & Housing Affairs for sparing his precious time to felicitating the PSPB Hockey Players Sports Stars of India and states that your words of appreciation were very motivational, and thanks to the Hon’ble Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Labour & Employment for felicitating the Hockey Players and special thanks to Sh. Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, Petroleum for advising and suggesting us to organize the Felicitation function for PSPB Hockey Players and Sh. SM Vaidya, Chairman, IOCL and President, PSPB for guiding time and again for such thoughtful function. In his address to the gathering thanking all the C&MD’s, Director’s of Member Organization for attending the event. He also thanks to Media persons for showing the wonderful live events of the players to the audience and it is a very happy moment that you shows the some of the memorable and unforgettable moments of players in the game while playing. In his speech thanks all the senior officials of Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi and his own Team PSPB for standing day and night to make this event successful. Member Secretary also added and thanks to the Sports Players who accepted our invitation and said I am very much delighted to have such wonderful sports stars Hockey Players who won the bronze medal for India. Concluded the speech proposed vote of thanks to the occasion.
