Even as the Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday opened his “empty” treasury to reward 23 medal winners from the state at international level, it was SAD veteran and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa who stole the show.
Dhindsa, who had been in silence ever since he resigned from all posts in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), participated in the Congress-led Punjab Government’s function to honour the medal winners of Commonwealth and Asian Games. Dhindsa participated in the event as he is the Punjab Olympic Association president.
During the function, Dhindsa shared the stage with Capt Amarinder, cabinet ministers Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, and Congress MLA Pargat Singh while honouring the players.
The State Government presented the sports awards worth Rs 15.55 crore to 23 CWG and Asian Games winners from the state in recognition of their outstanding performance in Commonwealth and Asian Games-2018.
Legendary athlete Milkha Singh accompanied the Chief Minister at the event, where an Apple I-phone was also presented to each of the players, along with the certificates.
Capt Amarinder reiterated his government’s commitment to promote sports at the grassroots level, and to motivate youngsters into sports through various initiatives. He expressed the confidence that Punjab players would shine in the next Olympics as there was no dearth of talent in the state.
Punjab Government would channelize the energy and talent of sports stars positively to secure medals in the Olympics, he added.
Among those honoured by the Chief Minister were Heena Sidhu, who has been awarded Rs 1.75 crore for clinching gold, silver and bronze medals in Pistol Shooting in Commonwealth and Asian Games. Other awardees in the Commonwealth category are Pranav Chopra (Rs 75 lakh for Gold in Badminton), Anjum Moudgil (Rs. 50 lakh for Silver medal in Shooting), Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (Rs 40 lakh for winning bronze medal in Discus throw), Vikas Thakur (Rs 40 lakh for Bronze in Weightlifting). Weightlifter Pardeep Singh’s mother received his award for Rs 50 lakh for winning Silver medal.
Among the Asian Games Gold medal winners, Tajinder Pal Singh Toor and Swaran Singh were conferred Rs one crore each in Shotput and Rowing, respectively. Sukhmeet Singh received award and Rs one crore for Gold in Rowing, while Rs one crore was awarded to Arpinder Singh for winning Gold in Triple Jump (Athletics).
Randeep Kaur Khehra was awarded Rs 75 lakh for winning Silver medal in Kabaddi, Rs 75 lakh to Reena Khokhar for Silver in Hockey, Rs 50 lakh to Rupinder Pal for Bronze medal in Hockey, Rs 75 lakh to Gurjit Kaur for Silver in Hockey, and Rs 50 lakh to Akashdeep Singh, whose award was received by his father.
An award of Rs 50 lakh was received by the mother of Hockey player Manpreet Singh.
Among other awardees were the Hockey players — Mandeep Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Krishna Bahadur Pathak and Dilpreet Singh — who won Bronze in Jakarta Asian Games. They were all given Rs 50 lakh each, which was received by their respective family members as they are currently in the national camp of Indian Hockey.
Through a live online message, they extended their thanks to Punjab Government for honouring them and assured that they would bring more laurels to the state and the nation.
Award and prize money of Rs 50 lakh was given to Bhagwan Singh, bronze medal winner in Rowing.
Describing the Sports Awards ceremony as a historic occasion in the history of Punjab Sports, the Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi said that it was a matter of great pride that the state was being led by a sportsperson, Capt Amarinder Singh, and the state had recently unveiled a comprehensive Sports Policy, which would further give a fillip to sports in Punjab.
He said that the Chief Minister had also assured to provide government jobs to players with outstanding performance according to their qualification.
Sodhi also announced that Punjab Government would ensure the best coaching facilities and state-of-the-art infrastructure so that the state could scale new heights of success in National and International competitions.
He said that State has identified land for setting up Sports University at Patiala. A great marathon will be organised by the department at the state as well as district levels, he added. The Minister also called upon the industrial units to adopt sports and players to further strengthen the sports in the state.
Actor and comedian Gurpreet Ghuggi, addressing the gathering, lauded the initiative of Punjab Government for restoring the sports culture in Punjab, which was earlier one of the frontrunner sports states in the country.