Rio Olympics silver medallist shuttler PV Sindhu and bronze winner grappler Sakshi Malik along with gymnast Dipa Karmakar and badminton coach Pullela Gopichand were on Sunday presented BMW cars by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar in Hyderabad.
Hyderabad District Badminton Association president Chamundeshwarnath gifted the luxury cars to the four sportspersons for their outstanding achievement in the recently-concluded Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Tendulkar, who was the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian team at Rio Olympics, handed over the keys at a function at Gopichand Badminton Academy.
Lauding PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik for winning medals at the Rio Olympic Games, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar today said it is the beginning of a wonderful journey for the duo.
"This is a wonderful moment for Indian sport. Journey begins here, I am sure this doesn't stop here, we all will be joining that journey and are there to support you. You will keep us giving number of occasions to celebrate," he said.
"The entire nation is happy at this moment and jumping with joy, there are greater things to come," he further said.
Under the guidance of chief coach Gopichand, Sindhu clinched the silver medal in women's singles making her the first Indian woman sportsperson to win a silver in the Olympics.
"Gopichand you have been a wonderful role model, you have gone a notch higher. We all admire you. You are a real hero. We need your guidance in getting more medals. I thank various other coaches also," the batting maestro said.
"On behalf of the entire nation, I can say that all these sportspersons standing beside me have brought laurels to our nation. I thank everyone for supporting and praying (for sportspersons) that is what an athlete looks out for," he said.
"Your preparation...sacrificed so many things...you are not allowed to eat certain things and phones were kept aside, to enable you to focus. I knew, during Rio I saw such was the focus," Tendulkar said.
"We are extremely proud of you, we all are praying for you, we all support you now that you have said you want to convert bronze into gold and silver into gold (in the next Tokyo Olympic games)," he said referring to the medals won by Sakshi and Sindhu.
Wrestler Sakshi had bagged a bronze in women's freestyle 58kg class.
Dipa who missed a medal by a whisker, had finished fourth in the vault event and stunned the world by attempting the risky Produnova vault.