India’s biggest archery stars Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das kicked off the ‘Meet The Champion’ Programme in the state of Jharkhand at Ranchi.

This was on Tuesday when a huge gathering of more than 300 students from 75 schools across the district attended the interactive session on ‘Santulit Aahar’, fitness and sports held in Delhi Public School, SAIL Township, Ranchi.

During the meet, the Olympian archers stressed how important it is for everyone to include a balanced diet in our regular diet. In this regard, Deepika said, “The kind of lifestyle gradually growing among a majority of the population is posing a threat to health. It is a great initiative of our PM where he has chosen sportspersons to interact with the younger generation and explain them how a healthy diet and fit lifestyle will always help one physically as well as mentally.”

She also shared about her childhood habits when there was a time that she used to hate green vegetables and salads but today that’s a part of her regular diet. ‘It is actually all about understanding the requirement of our body and taking care of it. It’s difficult to grow a habit of eating things which we don’t like but once you start loving your body, you will start doing it”, she added.

Meanwhile, referring to an animated character of a video played in the programme, the 30-year-old Arjuna Awardee Atanu said, “I was never a Healthy Ram and still can’t be one throughout the year. So, I enjoy my cheat days sometime. Otherwise, I am very clear about my goal in life which can be achieved only with healthy habits.”

The husband-wife duo also said that they believe ‘Meet The Champion’ programme is such a motivating initiative that impactful results of such interactive sessions across the country will soon be visible to us.

This unique initiative is being organized jointly by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Ministry of Education and is part of the government’s ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. Various segments like interesting and quick videos on balanced diet, quiz session where winners are given away prizes makes the event quite exciting for students that carried an overwhelming response for the Champ of the event.

“It was so fun listening and learning so many new things from world-class archers like them. This is one of the most memorable days of life as it’s still like a dream that I could play basketball with them”, said Tiash Gupta, a student of VIII Standard from DPS, Ranchi.