Varanasi,

04 Jan (HS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the 72nd

National Volleyball Tournament, held in his parliamentary constituency,

Varanasi, via video conferencing. As the Member of Parliament from Varanasi, he

welcomed the more than 1,000 players and their coaches present at the venue,

Dr. Sampurnanand Sports Stadium, and congratulated them on their excellent

performance.

Speaking

on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi said, Now that you have come to

Varanasi, you will understand its culture and will find enthusiastic spectators

here. Volleyball teaches us the message of team first, with all

players playing for their teams. This sport teaches us that no victory is ours

alone. With a team's victory, everyone wins. Our country also has the spirit of

India First. The Prime Minister quoted a Bhojpuri proverb to the

volleyball players, saying, If you want to go to Varanasi, you have to

come to Varanasi... Before this, the Prime Minister began his address

with the chant Namaah Parvati Pataye Har Har Mahadev. More than

1,000 national level players are participating in this tournament as part of 58

teams representing various states and institutions from across India, to be

held from January 4 to 11.

The

Chief Minister of the state Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh

Pathak, Varanasi Mayor Ashok Tiwari, MLC Hansraj Vishwakarma, MLA Dr. Neelkanth

Tiwari, Minister of State Ravindra Jaiswal, MLA Saurabh Srivastava, Awadhesh

Singh, MLC Dharmendra Singh, State Ayush Minister Dr. Dayashankar Mishra

'Dayalu', President of Uttar Pradesh Volleyball Federation Ramanuj Chaudhary,

BJP Metropolitan President Pradeep Agrahari, etc. were also present at the

inaugural ceremony of the competition.

Before

the inauguration of the competition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote about

the event on his official social media account, Our government is

committed to promoting sports and players at every level. In this series, I

will have the privilege of inaugurating the National Volleyball Tournament

tomorrow at around 12 noon in Baba Vishwanath's city Kashi through video

conferencing. Players from 58 teams representing many states and institutions

will participate in this tournament which will continue till January 11.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi