35 sportspersons from Indian Railways to participate in Rio Olympics this year

Indian Railways’ sportspersons will once again showcase their talent at the coming XXXI Olympic Games being held in Rio, Brazil, from 5-21 August, 2016. Around 35 sportspersons from Indian Railways will represent the nation.

Indian Railways’ contingent makes up 1/3rd of the entire Indian Olympic contingent, thus becoming the biggest contributor amongst all sports organisations in the country. In fact, almost the entire Indian women’s hockey team consists of Railway players, as does the weightlifting team.

Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu along with Minister of State for Railways and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Communication Manoj Sinha amongst others have conveyed greetings to all the Indian sportspersons including Railway players going to participate in the Olympic 2016 and wished them success.

The 2012 London Olympics had 81 Indian athletes, of which 12 were Railways sportspersons. Out of the 121-member Indian contingent for the Rio Olympics, more than 35 belong to the Railways, a clear indication of the Indian Railways’ enthusiasm for sports.

Recently, the Railways exhibited a spectacular performance at the South Asian Games held in Guwahati – out of the 81 Indian Railways sportspersons who participated, 76 were medal winners.

In recent years, a number of initiatives have been taken to enhance the facilities at Indian Railways. Apart from sports, the government has also signed an MoU with the Ministry of the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through which the Indian Railways will provide space and manpower to carry out skill development programmes across the country.

Another major initiative taken by the government was to collaborate with Google and roll out WiFi service at 10 stations, where it will offer high-speed Internet to an estimated 1.5 million passengers and visitors.