Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday announced a cash reward of Rs 50 lakh to sportspersons of the state who will achieve fourth position in Tokyo Olympics.
Till now, there was no provision in the state's sports policy for such players.
With this, nine players from Haryana in Indian women's hockey team will now get a cash reward of Rs 50 lakh each.
The Chief Minister said that according to the sports policy of the state, there is a provision to give incentive money to the players who cannot win medals in these games. As per this provision, each player participating in the Olympic Games is being given an incentive amount of Rs 15 lakh each.
An amount of Rs 5 lakh is already given to these players prior to the Olympics and now the rest of the amount of Rs 10 lakh would be given to the players on their return after the completion of the Olympics, Khattar said while addressing a press conference in Rohtak.
He said that in the sports policy, a provision was made to give Rs 6 crore to a player who wins a gold medal in Olympic Games, Rs 4 crore to a player who wins a silver medal and Rs 2.5 crore to a player who wins bronze medal.
He further said that the State Government would also be honouring the players who win any medal in Olympic Games at a special ceremony to be held in Haryana.Lauding the performance of Indian players in the Olympics, the Chief Minister further said that the Indian men's hockey team has brought laurels to the country after 41 years by winning bronze medals. It is a matter of great pride that two players from Haryana were part of this winning team, he said.
He said that the Haryana's wrestler Ravi Dahiya has brought laurels to the country and the state by winning a silver medal in the Olympic Games.
Khattar also wished wrestler Bajrang Punia in the match for the bronze medal and hoped that he would win a bronze medal for the country.
Despite having only 2 percent of the country's population, about 25 percent participation is from Haryana in the Olympic Games, which is a matter of pride. 30 players from Haryana are participating in the Olympics. Winning and losing is not important in sports, but it is important to play with passion for the country. Sports facilities will be promoted in all the rural stadiums of Haryana, he added
To promote sports in the state, he said that the number of sports nurseries will be increased. In these sports nurseries being already run by the government , good diet, coach facilities and basic infrastructural facilities are being provided to the players, he said.
Responding to a question regarding renaming the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award by the Central Government, Khattar said that this move would encourage the players. The Central Government has renamed Khel Ratna Award after the player who has a distinguished achievement, he added.