India scripted history at the Olympics this year. Registering one of the finest performance as a whole by the Indian contingent, several Olympic and Paralympic winners proved that it is high time that sports like the javelin, which were previously overlooked, get their due recognition.
Having won a gold medal in Javelin at the Olympics, several Indians now desire to touch a javelin, possess it and learn more about it. In an endeavour to promote such sports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now giving a unique opportunity to Indians to possess items of national pride, which have been presented as gifts or mementos to the Prime Minister by the sportspersons. These items include several iconic items including sports equipment of sportspersons that brought India’s honour at the Olympic.
For Instance, Sumit Antil, a resident of Haryana, who won the gold medal for India by throwing a javelin in the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, presented his Javelin to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after signing it. Interestingly, sports enthusiasts can now possess this javelin simply by taking part in an online bid on pmmementos.gov.in/.
Apart from these, many souvenirs, such as Women hockey team’s souvenir to PM Modi, which also includes the stick of the Indian women’s hockey team, replica of Ayodhya Ram temple presented by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, wooden replica of Chardham presented by Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, replica of Rudraksh Convention Center are among the items that are being auctioned.
The auction, which started on September 17, will continue till October 7. The proceeds from the auction will be spent on the Namami Gange project, the country’s life-giving river Ganga, a conservation and rejuvenation program. Interestingly, the excitement and enthusiasm around the auction is such that the base price of the bid for Sumit Antil’s javelin, which was initially fixed at one crore rupees, has increased to ten crore rupees in just five days. Meanwhile, the base price of the momentos by Indian women hockey’s team was kept at Rs 80,000 but now, the bid has reached Rs 11 crores.
