Not honoured by Punjab Govt, CWG paralifters upset

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, August 28

State’s para-powerlifters Manpreet Kaur and Paramjeet Kumar, who participated in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG), have expressed disappointment over not being honoured by the state government at the felicitation ceremony held for the CWG players yesterday.

They claimed that the state government felicitated 27 Commonwealth Games players, of whom 23 were medallists.

They, too, will be felicitated

As per a policy, the state only honours medallists, but the CM wanted to honour participants as well. The list of participants was prepared at the last minute. Soon, para-players will also be felicitated. —Meet Hayer, Sports minister

“If players who did not bag a medal in the CWG were felicitated and given due recognition, why were we discriminated against? We did not win a medal, but we did participate in the event,” said Manpreet from Kapurthala, adding that she and Paramjeet had been left demotivated by the state government’s move.

Manpreet has represented the country in several international para-powerlifting championships. She brought laurels to the state by winning gold medals from 2015 to 2019 in national championships.

Both Manpreet and Paramjeet suffer from polio. Defying odds, they followed their passion and made a name for themselves in para-powerlifting.

“This is not the first time I have been deprived of an honour. In 2018, during the Asian Para Games, where I won the bronze for the country, I had to request the authorities to recognise my achievement,” said Paramjeet, who hails from Jalandhar.