New Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya meets IOA President PT Usha, holds review of preparations for Paris Olympics

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the much-awaited Paris Olympics 2024, the newly appointed Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Mansukh Mandaviya, on Thursday held a review meeting on India's preparations for Olympics 2024 in New Delhi.

This was the first time the Sports Minister met India Olympic Association (IOA) President PT Usha.

In the meeting along with Mansukh Mandaviya and PT Usha there were also some more people were seen like Sports Secretary Sujata Chaturvedi, DG SAI Sandip Pradhan, and MOS sports Raksha Khandse was also there.

The IOA President PT Usha shared her experience after talking Mansukh Mandaviya

"Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports visited IOA. I am so happy that they wanted to know about IOA and also about the Paris preparation. We will be in contact with each other and will try to have meetings every week," Usha told the media.

The games are starting on July 26 and going on till August 11. In the Olympics, India will be looking to outdo their all-time best tally of seven medals, including a gold, which they achieved in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In the Paralympics, India aims to surpass their best tally of 19 medals, including five gold, achieved at the 2020 edition in Tokyo.

Along with the Sports Minister, Mansukh Malviya will also serve as the Union Minister of Labour and Employment.

Anurag Thakur was the last person who held the position of the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in PM Modi's second term.

Mansukh Mandaviya took charge as the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare in 2021, replacing Dr Harsh Vardhan who was in charge of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences since 2019.

Mandaviya took oath as the Union Minister at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday during the oath ceremony.

In the recent Lok Sabha election, Mandaviya contested from Porbandar in Gujarat. He emerged victorious with a margin of 3,83,360 votes.

Mandaviya defeated Lalit Vasoya of the Indian National Congress. Porbandar Lok Sabha seat, one of the 26 parliamentary constituencies in Gujarat will go for polls on May 7 in the third phase of General elections.

The seat will witness the contest between the Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Mansukh Mandaviya and Congress leader Lalit Vasoya. BJP candidate Mansukh Mandaviya, before becoming a Rajya Sabha member, was elected an MLA from the Palitana assembly seat of Bhavnagar in 2002. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Lalit Vasoya encountered defeat with a margin of 2,29,823 votes at the hands of BJP's Rameshbhai Lavjibhai Dhaduk.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP's Radadiya Vithalbhai Hansrajbhai defeated NCP's Jadeja Kandhalbhai Saramanbhai with a margin of 2,67,971 votes.