Tokyo Olympics: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to eat ice cream with P.V Sindhu after the summer Games

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to eat ice cream with P. V. Sindhu as soon as she returns from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo next month. The Prime minister told Sindhu about his plan after the Games during a video call with Indian athletes heading to Tokyo on Tuesday.

Sindhu had revealed in an interview with India Today that her coach Pullela Gopichand took away her mobile phone and also prohibited her from eating ice cream during the 2016 Rio Olympics.

All of her preparations bore fruit when she became the first badminton player from India to clinch a silver medal at the Games in Brazil.

PM Modi also saw that interview and remembered about what Sindhu spoke about her diet. He then vowed to have ice-cream with the badminton world champion once she comes back from Japan.

“Sindhu Ji your parents have made a lot of sacrifices to help you reach where you are at the moment. They have done their job, now it is your turn to show what you are made of.

“Work hard and I am confident that you will be successful once again. And when you all come back from the Olympics, I will have ice-cream with you,” PM Modi said before bursting into a laughter.

Sindhu, who is the lone female badminton player to qualify for the Games, also highlighted the importance of a proper diet in an athlete’s life before telling Modi that she does have ice-cream sometimes.

“I have to control my diet because diet is very important for an athlete. Now that the Olympics are coming up, I have to control my diet so that’s why I cannot eat a lot of ice-cream, only sometimes,” Sindhu said.

Reigning world champion and Rio Games silver medallist Sindhu has been drawn with Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi (ranked 34th) and Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova (ranked 58th) in Group J of the women’s singles event at the Games.

The Tokyo Olympics will be held in the Japanese capital city, behind closed doors, from July 23 to August 8. Badminton matches will kick-start from July 24.