Neeraj Chopra
The Haryana government on Friday awarded over Rs 23 crore cash prizes to the athletes who returned from the state’s Olympics. Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya distributed checks along with job offer letters to the players as per the sports policy of the state.
A state level felicitation ceremony was organized in Panchkula to honor 32 players from the state who participated in the Tokyo Olympics.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar could not attend the function as his younger brother Gulshan Khattar passed away at a private hospital in Gurugram.
Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, who was suffering from high fever, did not attend the ceremony in person but did attend the event for a few minutes.
A few more athletes including wrestler Vinesh Phogat, shooter Manu Bhaker and boxers Amit Panghal, Vikas Krishan and Manish Kaushik and discus thrower Seema Punia did not attend the event. However, the players’ family members, who could not attend the function due to some reasons, were present at the event.
On behalf of Neeraj Chopra, his uncle Bhim Chopra accepted a check of Rs 6 crore. The Governor also presented checks of Rs 4 crore and Rs 2.5 crore to wrestlers Ravi Dahiya and Bajrang Punia for winning silver and bronze medals respectively.
Two Haryana players, Surendra Kumar and Sumit, who were part of the men’s hockey team, were also given checks of Rs 2.5 crore.
The players were also given job offer letters along with one plot each at concessional rates.
The players who received the check of Rs 50 lakh include Deepak Punia, Udita, Sharmila Devi, Savita Punia and women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal.
The recipients of the Rs 15 lakh award include Seema Bisla, Sonam Malik, Anshu Malik, Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Sanjeev Rajput. Addressing the gathering, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala announced to set up five centers of excellence in the state.
He said that free coaching would be given to talented players in these centres. These centers will be opened in boxing, hockey, shooting, wrestling and athletics.
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