Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland (FICQ) along with Indian High Commission (Canberra) hosted a grand reception in honor of Indian athletes participating in the Commonwealth Games 2018 on 12th April 2018 at RACV royal pine resort in Gold Coast.
The guest of honor was Mrs. Neelam Kapur, Director General (DG) of Sports Authority of India. The event was also attended by High Commissioner of India to Australia, His excellency Dr. Ajay M. Gondane and Capt. Ajay Narang.
The reception started at 6.30pm with the floral welcome of the athletes and lighting of lamp by the dignitaries Mrs. Neelam Kapur & Dr. Ajay Gondane followed by welcome speech from FICQ President Dr. Ram Mohan. In his speech he appreciated the athletes for their hard work and spectacular performances in CWG GC 2018. He shared how Commonwealth games had provided all athletes a level playing field to compete in a spirit of friendship and fair play. And how it has acted as a catalyst for an increased sense of inclusivity, diversity and community pride within the Queensland communities.
The event was attended by many Queensland Indian community leaders: Honorary Consul of India Mrs. Archana Singh, Mr. Jim Varghese, advisors & past presidents of FICQ- Mr. Palani Thevar, Prof. Prasad Yarlagadda, Surendra Prasad and Dr. Naidu Bodapati, Pushpinder Singh from GOPIO Gold coast, Usha& Umesh Chandra from GOPIO and others.
The athletes were presented with garlands & medals for their achievements. There were light refreshments and entertainment- classical & semi classical dance performances by Nadananjali group and Punjabi Folk dance by Bhangra United.
Dr. Venkat Pulla, PRO of FICQ gave the vote of thanks and expressed his gratitude to Commonwealth Games for giving Indians in Australia the opportunity to felicitate India’s best athletes and to cherish the talent of culturally diverse India! On behalf of FICQ he thanked all the athletes & guests for their participation and making the event a grand success!