Panipat, Dec 23: Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia on Thursday visited Aarohi Model School, taking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Meet the Champions’ initiative ahead.
The Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Punia met students of 75 schools from four districts.
During the visit, Punia spoke to students about the importance of balanced diet, fitness and also promoted Indian traditional sports by participating in a game of Kho Kho with the students.
Punia also taught students some easy-to-do fitness exercises.
Praising the idea of Prime Minister of asking Olympians and Paralympians to visit schools across India and interact with students, the wrestler said, “I am very happy that I have come to this school, it reminds me of my school days because even I come from a village in Haryana and coming back here is like coming back to school.”
Speaking to students about the importance of having the right diet and following a fit lifestyle, Punia said, “If you want to be mentally and physically strong and see India on the top in any field, you need to eat the right things and exercise at least for half an hour, twice a day.”
The wrestler stressed on the need to have homemade food that has essentials like greens, proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and urged kids to stay away from junk food.
“During my early days of training we were not allowed to even step out of our training center daily, so when we got one chance to step out the first thing we wanted to do was to eat tasty roadside food like chaat and tikki.
“But that would be once in many months, not regularly. So, you have to promise me that you won’t have junk food regularly, and you will try to give it up,” he added.
The unique initiative is part of the government’s ‘Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ which was kicked off by the Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra in Gujarat earlier this month.
The special school campaign ‘Meet the Champions’ is jointly being organized by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
