Hyderabad District Badminton Association president Chamundeshwarnath gifted the luxury cars to the four sportspersons for their outstanding achievement in the recently-concluded Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Tendulkar, who was the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian team at Rio Olympics, handed over the keys at a function at Gopichand Badminton Academy here.

“This is a wonderful moment for Indian sport. Journey begins here, I am sure this doesn’t stop here, we all will be joining that journey and are there to support you. You will keep us giving number of occasions to celebrate,” Sachin Tendulkar said.

“The entire nation is happy at this moment and jumping with joy, there are greater things to come,” he further said.

“Gopichand you have been a wonderful role model, you have gone a notch higher. We all admire you. You are a real hero. We need your guidance in getting more medals. I thank various other coaches also,” the batting maestro said.

“On behalf of the entire nation, I can say that all these sports persons standing beside me have brought laurels to our nation. I thank everyone for supporting and praying (for sports persons) that is what an athlete looks out for,” he said.