Haryana Government will honour Olympic players on August 13

New Delhi, August 9

The Haryana Government will host a function on August 13 to honour its athletes who have won medals and performed excellently during the recently concluded Olympics.

“We will hold a function on August 13 for players from our state who went to Olympics where we will honour them with cash awards and posts,” state Sports Minister Sandeep Singh said.

Haryana has already announced Rs 6 crore to gold medal winner Neeraj Chopra, Rs 4 crore to wrestler Ravi Dahiya and Rs 2.5 crore each to bronze medal-winning Haryana players in the men’s hockey team. Apart from that, the state is also giving Rs 50 lakh each to Haryana players of the women’s hockey team.

“For our athletes, to overcome Covid and keep their preparations on and bring themselves to peak is a big thing,” the Minister said.

The 35-year-old former Indian hockey player said the state has been investing in sports for a long time and would continue to do so.

Sandeep termed India’s bronze medal win as good as gold and said it had somewhat healed the agony of the 0-8 loss his side faced during the 2010 Commonwealth Games against Australia in New Delhi.

“We played the 2010 CWG at home. That disappointment has been erased. For me, this is a gold and not bronze because the hockey team has done what the entire country had been hoping for years,” the Sports Minister added. — IANS