· 90 players excelled in 2017-18 felicitated with Rs.1.66 Crore prize money
· Olympic gold winners to get Rs.2.25 crore, silver Rs.1.5 crore and bronze Rs.1 crore along with government jobs
· Punjab poised to contribute half strength of national hockey team for mega event
· Boxing and shooting also potential medal sports
· Announces Rs.5 lakh financial assistance to family of deceased Special Olympian
Chandigarh, January 15:
“Punjab is all set to excel in the Tokyo Olympics-2021 and bagging maximum quota for the State for this mega event is the main and sole aim with Punjab Institute of Sports (P.I.S.) and other allied institutions engaged headlong and burning midnight oil under the aegis of the Sports Department.” These views were expressed here today by the Sports, Youth Services and NRIs Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi at the Punjab Municipal Bhawan, while honouring the 90 players, who brought laurels for the state and country in the year 2017-18, with prizes worth around Rs.1.66 crore.
Addressing the special award ceremony, Rana Sodhi said that starting with the first phase today of providing monetary assistance to players, we have initiated the process to fulfill our promise made to the sports fraternity to honour them for their remarkable achievements in sports arena of international and national repute. In coming days, such 1135 sportspersons would be accorded with cash prizes as the COVID pandemic has already much delayed the process of honouring sports persons.
Rana Sodhi said that these 90 players, who have outshined at international, national and state level during the year 2017-18, are being given Rs.1,65,65,700. Out of these, 36 international players have been given around Rs.1.26, while 54 national level sportspersons with prize money of around Rs.39.39 lakh. “I hope, this initiative would be advantageous for the budding players to boost their morale for excelling the international sports, especially in Tokyo-2021 Olympics”, he said, adding that the sports department has decided to provide cash awards worth Rs.4.85 crores to decorated players, out of which, around Rs.1.66 crores have been disbursed today.
Pointing out further, Rana Sodhi said that maximum podium finishes are expected from Punjab with Hockey as the leading contender because the half of National hockey squad is expected to feature players from the State. This is amply borne out by the fact that out of total 33 players attending the camp at Bengaluru, 17 hails from Punjab. The Women’s team has two players from the state.
Divulging about presenting a cheque of Rs.5 lakh on behalf of the Punjab Government to the pugilist Simranjit Kaur, who is the first boxer from the State to qualify for Olympics, Rana Sodhi said that Simranjit is also the first boxer from Punjab, who bagged Silver in the Asia-Oceania qualifying tournament and secured a place in the Olympics. Announcing that the Punjab Government would bear the expenses of Simranjit Kaur’s preparation for the Olympics, the Minister disclosed that the prodigy from Punjab also had a preparation stint at Punjab Institute of Sports.
Claiming the new sports policy as extremely beneficial for preparing budding players for the international arena, Rana Sodhi said that no stone is left unturned in ensuring every facility with the inclusion of providing coaching from abroad and equipment, to ensure that the players come up triumphs at the Olympic level.
“The Gold winners at the Olympics would get Rs.2.25 crore prize money, Silver winners Rs.1.5 crore, while those bagging Bronze would be richer by Rs.1 crore along with government jobs”, revealed the Minister adding that till now, 74 players from the country had qualified for the 35 events with many shooters and boxers also holding the great promise.
Principal Secretary Sports Mr. Anurag Verma and Director Mr. D.P.S. Kharbanda also spoke on this occasion and extended wishes for their better sports future. MBSPSU Vice Chancellor Lieutenant General (Retd.) Dr. Jagbir Singh Cheema and Registrar Col. Navjit Singh Sandhu, PIS Director Group Captain (Retd.) Amardeep Singh, Joint Secretary Sports Council Mr. Kartar Singh and Deputy Director (Youth Services) Mrs. Rupinder Kaur were also present.
36 INTERNATIONAL LEVEL PLAYERS AWARDED WITH AROUND RS.1.26 CRORE
As many as 36 sportspersons, who had excelled at the international and national level during the year 2017-18 have been awarded with around Rs.1.26 crore during the first phase of award ceremony. These included; 5 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal winner Anjum Maudgil, 3 gold, 5 Silver and 5 bronze medalist Anhad Jawanda, 3 gold and 1 silver medal winner Aditya Kundu, 2 gold medal winner Gurpreet Singh, 2 gold medal winner Harpreet Singh, 1 gold and 1 silver medal winner Rubaljit Singh Rangi, 2 gold medal Winner Amanjit Singh, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Randeep Kaur, 1 gold medal winner Parveena, 1 gold medal winner Trisha Deb, 1 gold medalist Manpreet Kaur, 1 gold medalist Maninder Singh, 1 gold medalist Pardeep Singh, 2 Gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal winner Arjun Babuta, 4 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Samiksha Dhingra, 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medal winner Arjun Singh Cheema, 1 gold and 1 silver medal winner Tejinder Pal Singh Toor, 2 silver medal winner Prabhpal Singh, 1 silver medalist Gurwinder Singh, 1 silver medal winner Harveen Sarao, 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal winner Sanjeev Kumar, 1 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze medal winner Angadveer Singh Bajwa, 1 gold medal winner Abhishek Sharma, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Davinder Singh, 2 gold medal winner Mukesh Kumar, 2 gold medal winner Poonam, 2 gold and 3 silver medal winner Gurnihal Singh Garcha, 1 silver medal winner Gurdeep Singh, 1 bronze medalist Vikas Thakur, 1 bronze medalist Amanpreet Singh, 2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medal winner Sanmun Singh Brar, 3 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze medal winner Raj Kumar, 5 silver & 2 bronze medal winner Japtesh Singh Jaspal and Dilbardeep Singh Sandhu, Sumit and Veena Arora 1 bronze medal each.
NATIONAL LEVEL 54 SPORTSPERSONS BESTOWED WITH RS.39.39 LAKH
Similarly, Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi honored 54 national level sportspersons with prize money of Rs.39.39 lakh. These players included; 5 gold, 1 silver & 2 bronze medal winner Sarpreet Kaur Sidhu, 4 Gold, 2 silver & 2 bronze medal winner Eknoor Kaur, 3 gold, 4 silver & 2 bronze medal winner Rajbir Singh, 4 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze medal winner Simranjot Kaur, 3 gold and 1 silver medal winner Nemat Sabharwal, 4 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Mehak Kejriwal, 5 gold and 5 silver medal winner Prabhjot Bajwa, 5 gold and 1 silver medal winner Inaya Vijay Singh, 5 gold medal winner Jasmine Kaur, 4 silver and 3 bronze medal winner Achal Partap Singh Grewal, 4 gold, 2 silver & 2 bronze medal winner Naman Kapil, 1 gold, 4 silver & 2 bronze medal winner Fateh Singh Dhillon, 5 silver and 2 bronze medal winner Manpreet Kaur, 2 gold medal winner Chahat Arora, 3 gold, 2 silver & 1 bronze medal winner Surinder Singh, 5 silver medal winner Vaibhav Rajouria, 6 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze medal winner Chhavi Kohli, 4 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Sumanpreet Kaur, 1 gold, 3 silver & 3 bronze medal winner Jagjit Kaur, 2 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Chahat Deep Kaur, 2 silver and 4 bronze medal winner Jasmeet Kaur, 3 gold, 2 silver & 2 bronze medal winner Pankhuri Rathore, 2 gold and 2 bronze medal winner Veerpal Kaur, 1 gold, 3 silver & 1 bronze medal winner Jugraj Singh, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal winner Harnimrat Singh Bhinder, 1 gold and 1 silver medal winner Talwinder Singh, 2 gold and 3 bronze medal winner Kirandeep Kaur, 2 gold and 3 bronze medal winner Inderjit Kaur, 2 gold and 2 bronze medal winner Sahil Chopra, 4 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Dilshan Kaile, 3 gold medal winner Jasseerat Singh, 2 gold and 2 bronze medal winner Husanpreet Kaur, 3 gold and 1 silver medal winner Harmanpreet Kaur, 2 gold, 2 silver & 1 bronze medal winner Prabhjot Kaur, 1 gold and 1 silver medal winner Harvinder Kaur, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Veerpal Kaur, 2 gold medal winner Ina Arora, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Gurbaz Singh, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Sarwanjit Singh, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Gurwinder Singh Chandi, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Harbir Singh, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Harjot Singh, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Dupinder Deep Singh, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Dharamvir Singh, 1 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Simranjit Singh, 2 gold and 2 silver medal winner Jagdish Singh, 6 silver medal winner Jasmine Kaur, 3 silver and 3 bronze medal winner Utkarsh, 2 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze medal winner Priyanka Devi, 1 silver and 3 bronze medal winner Harmandeep Kaur, 1 gold, 4 silver & 2 bronze medal winner Amandeep Kamboj, 3 gold medal winner Harshdeep Singh, 2 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Sania and 2 gold and 1 bronze medal winner Jagmeet Kaur.
ANNOUNCES RS.5 LAKH FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO FAMILY OF DECEASED SPECIAL OLYMPIAN
Expressing grief over the death of Special Olympian Rajvir Singh (21) of Siarh village of district Ludhiana, who had won two gold medals in cycling at the 2015 Special Olympics in Los Angeles, Sports Minister Rana Sodhi announced financial assistance of Rs.5 lakh to the next family members of the deceased Olympic athlete. He said that senior officials of the department have been asked to hand over the cheque of financial assistance.
The Cabinet Minister categorically said that this player was deprived of the cash prize money of Rs.30 lakh promised by the then SAD-BJP government in 2015.
Rana Sodhi said that the matter of providing financial assistance to this special sportsperson had come to the notice of the sports department about five months back and since then, the department had started the process of providing financial assistance to him.
