New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accepted a fitness challenge by cricketer Virat Kohli saying that he will soon post a personal fitness video.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kohli, in a tweet, challenged Modi in a fitness campaign initiated by Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on social media.
"Challenge accepted, Virat! I will be sharing my own #FitnessChallenge video soon. @imVkohli #HumFitTohIndiaFit," Modi tweeted.
Challenge accepted, Virat! I will be sharing my own #FitnessChallenge video soon. @imVkohli #HumFitTohIndiaFit https://t.co/qdc1JabCYb
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 24, 2018
On Wednesday, Kohli, who posed for his fitness video in a gym, tweeted: "I have accepted the #FitnessChallenge by @ra_THORe (Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore) sir. Now I would like to challenge my wife @AnushkaSharma , our PM @narendramodi ji and @msdhoni Bhai for the same. #HumFitTohIndiaFit #ComeOutAndPlay."
I have accepted the #FitnessChallenge by @ra_THORe sir. Now I would like to challenge my wife @AnushkaSharma , our PM @narendramodi ji and @msdhoni Bhai for the same. 😀 #HumFitTohIndiaFit #ComeOutAndPlay pic.twitter.com/e9BAToE6bg
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) May 23, 2018
(2/2) This is my way to keep fit @Ra_Thore sir. I challenge @ShreyasIyer15 and @klrahul11 Let's bat together to get India fitter. #HumFitTohIndiaFit #FitnessChallenge #ComeOutAndPlay pic.twitter.com/2JSNsjadjR
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) May 23, 2018
Earlier, the Olympian shooter Rathore initiated an online fitness campaign and and posted his exercise regime on the social media.
#HumFitTohIndiaFit 🇮🇳🏆
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) May 22, 2018
Post pictures and videos of how you keep yourself fit and send a #FitnessChallenge to your friends on social media. Here's my video 😀and I challenge @iHrithik, @imVkohli & @NSaina to join in🥊 pic.twitter.com/pYhRY1lNEm
He further challenged Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, cricketer Virat Kohli and badminton player Saina Nehwal to post their respective fitness mantras on the social media.
Congress comes up with #FuelChallenge
However, Modi’s political bete noire Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader, has seized the occasion to come up with a #FuelChallenge. “Reduce Fuel prices or the Congress will do a nationwide agitation and force you to do so,” he tweeted.
Dear PM,
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) 24 May 2018
Glad to see you accept the @imVkohli fitness challenge. Here’s one from me:
Reduce Fuel prices or the Congress will do a nationwide agitation and force you to do so.
I look forward to your response.#FuelChallenge
Journalist and politician Shahid Siddiqui chose highlight the overall challenges the nation is currently facing.
Accept the Fitness challenge of the nation. Economy is sick, polity is unwell, jobmarket is unhealthy, society is sick. Please accept the challenge of the Nation to make India healthy again.
— shahid siddiqui (@shahid_siddiqui) 24 May 2018
Big B accepts Rathore's fitness challenge
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has also accepted Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's fitness challenge titled #HumFitTohIndiaFit. He says his mantra is to be continuously mobile.
"Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore we accept the challenge of #HumFitTohIndiaFit fitness challenge. Main mantra: be continuously mobile, get up for every errand yourself, gym each day, push away that excess morsel of temptation, drive or cycle yourself (and) see the sun more often".
Ailing Kohli to cut short English county stint
Meanwhile, the Indian captain will cut short his stint with English county Surrey from next month because of exhaustion, an Indian cricket board official told AFP on Thursday.
"Kohli will miss some of the county games. It has not been decided how many games he will miss or whether it will be the whole month," said the senior Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.
Indian media reports said Kohli had a disc injury and went to a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday, but the official said the star batsman "is suffering from fatigue."
The 29-year-old, who has one of the most intensive playing schedules in cricket and in January married Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma, signed up to play for Surrey in the English county championship for June before India start a tour of England in July.
The Mumbai Mirror said Kohli saw an orthopaedic surgeon on Wednesday who told him there was damage to spinal nerves and that he may have to miss part of the India tour if the injury worsened.
Kohli missed a one-day international during a recent tour of South Africa because of a strained neck.
Kohli was not available for commemnt and the BCCI made no immediate public statement.