CWG heroes honoured, get cash awards
Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, August 27
The Punjab Government felicitated 27 sportspersons of the state, who represented the country in the recently concluded Birmingham Commonwealth Games, in Chandigarh today. A total cash prize of Rs 9.30 crore was awarded to the participants and medal winners (from the state) by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Of the 23 medal winners from Punjab, 19 won the silver medal and four bronze. The cash prize was handed over to weightlifter Vikas Thakur, men’s hockey team members Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Hardik Singh, Varun Kumar, Krishan Pathak, Shamsher Singh, Jarmanjit Singh and Jugraj Singh, women cricketers Harmanpreet Kaur, Harleen Deol and Tania Bhatia, weightlifters Harjinder Kaur, Lovepreet Singh and Gurdeep Singh, and women hockey player Gurjit Kaur. Apart from this, judo player Jasleen Saini, athlete Navjit Kaur Dhillon and cyclists Naman Kapil and Vishwajit Singh were also felicitated.
While Mann reiterated the commitment of the government to restore the glory of sports, he did not forget to mention about introducing facilities at the ground level to support young sportspersons. He claimed that the upcoming “Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan” would be an effort to restore the rich culture of sports in the state. “Previous governments had committed that they would award Rs 10 crore to state players who won an Olympics gold, but did not provide equipment to them for achieving the feat. We need good infrastructure, good facilities for players instead of such false promises,” said Mann.
The Chief Minister emphasised that to propel sports culture in schools, the state government was recruiting PTI teachers on a war footing.
Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said the state sports budget had been increased by 56 per cent. He said the Chief Minister would inaugurate “Khedan Wattan Punjab Diyan” by playing volleyball at Jalandhar on August 29.
Chief Minister late by 90 minutes
While the awardees were seated at 10.30 am when the function was to start, the Chief Minister entered the hall after a delay of over 90 minutes.
