Olympic Silver medallist at the Athens Olympics, and currently the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that holding the national flag or bearing it on the body was the greatest honour in the world.

Distributing prizes for the winners at the Isha Gramotsavam, organised by the Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore on Sunday, Rathore said that people should involve in sports, as sports brings them together.

“We become one when we play sports and carry the national flag. All our differences are set aside,” the minister said.

He also added that sports lifted team spirit and taught discipline, which should be inculcated in the lives of people.

“Sports should be nurtured at a very young age so that people grow with the sporting spirit,” he added.

Talking about the event, Rathore said that such sports meet help people come together and work for the betterment of villages. “It helps us clean villages; provide education to them, and make them strong,” he opined.

Claiming that happiness comes from within and not from any external source, Rathore also advised that people should not worry about failure as failure teaches people to get up and work harder.

Around 10,360 players and 880 teams have participated in the various games held as part of the event.

While the winners and runners-up of the volleyball men’s tournament received cash prizes of Rs.1 lakh and Rs.50,000 respectively, the winners and runners-up of the women’s throwball tournament won Rs.25,000 and Rs.20,000 respectively.

Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry, Kiran Bedi also participated in the event.