Olympic Gold medallist will become crorepati in Punjab

Chandigarh, July 8 (UNI) The Punjab sportspersons winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games would be richer by Rs one crore.

The lucrative cash award will be given under the new sports cash incentive policy formulated by the Punjab Government for the sportspersons who represent the state in the recognised national and international sports competitions.

Besides the gold medal winners in the Olympic Games, the silver and bronze medallists would also be suitably honoured with cash bonanza.

According to Punjab Sports Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, the Punjab player who secure silver medals in the Olympics will be rewarded with a cash award of Rs 50 lakh and the bronze medallist will be presented a cheque of Rs 25 lakh.

The State Government has also decided to give attractive cash prizes to the podium finishers in the official World Cup/Championships held after every four years, the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, the World Cup/Asian Championship held every year or after two years, the National Games/Afro-Asian Games/SAF Games and any international meet for the specially challenged people, Mr Ranike said.

The Punjab player who secures first position in the Official World Cup, held every after four years, will be given Rs 21 lakhs.

Silver and bronze medalists will receive Rs 11 and 7 lakhs, respectively.

The winners in the Asiad/C'Wealth Games will be entitled for cash incentive of Rs 7 lakh while the silver and bronze medal winners will receive Rs 5 and Rs 3 lakh, respectively.

The first three position holders in the World Cup/Asian Championships will receive Rs 5, 3 and 2 lakhs, respectively.

The cash awards for the winners in the National Games/Afro Asian Games/SAF Games will be Rs 3 lakh(winner), Rs 2 lakh (silver) and Rs 1 lakh (bronze).

Any Punjab handicapped player who obtains any of the three first positions in the international meets will receive Rs 5 lakh (Gold), Rs 3 lakh (silver) and Rs 2 lakh (bronze).

In case of team championships, the cash awards will be distributed according to the criteria set by the committee.

The Sports Minister also announced that in the junior category, the winners will receive 50 per cent of the above mentioned cash awards announced by the state government.

According to Principal Secretary to the Government of Punjab, Department of Sports and Youth Services RPS Pawar, players who receive cash awards will be required to submit a bond to the Director Sports Punjab to the effect that they will represent Punjab for a period of five years from the date of receipt of the cash awards.

The only exception will be in case of Public Sector Undertakings/Services employees who are unable to represent Punjab in the Nationals. However, they should represent Punjab in all other championships.

Punjab Sports Director Pargat Singh said 29 sports disciplines have been shortlisted for giving cash awards. These disciplines are: Aquatics, including water polo, diving and synchronized swimming, archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, Kayaking and canoeing, cycling, equestrian, football, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, roring, sailing, shooting, softball, table tennis, taekwon-do, tennis, triahtlon, volleyball, including beach volleyball, wrestling, weightlifting and cricket.

UNI